At a time when younger liberals are flirting with the idea of curtailing free speech in the name of protecting people, free-speech advocates are pointing out that the people who need protection are also the ones who need free speech the most.
“If progressives are committed to protecting freedom of conscience and freedom of expression for women and minorities, then they need to protect free speech across the board,” write Musa al-Gharbi and Jonathan Haidt in The Atlantic.
College campuses are ground zero in the fight over speech rights, with some leftists disrupting campus visits by provocative right-wing speakers.
“The reality is that, as compared to white Americans, blacks and Latinos are much more likely to attend public universities and community colleges than elite private institutions,” the authors write. “The same goes with those from low-income backgrounds as compared to the wealthy. This dynamic holds with regard to faculty as well: Female professors and professors of color are more likely than their white male counterparts to end up teaching at public universities as opposed to elite institutions like Harvard.”
Thus, it’s in everyone’s best interest to stay committed to free speech.