Andrew Doyle: Free Speech And Why It Matters

by Doyle, Andrew

ISBN: 9780349135380

Published: 2021-02-25

Towards the end of the twentieth century, those who advocated what became known as 'Political Correctness' rightly identified the ways in which marginalised groups were often disparaged in everyday speech. Casual expressions of homophobia, racism and sexism went from being commonplace to being rejected by the vast majority of the public over the course of just two decades. Since then, the victories of Political Correctness have formed the basis for a new intolerant mindset, one that seeks to move beyond simply reassessing the social contract of shared discourse to actively policing speech that is deemed offensive or controversial. Rather than confront bad ideas through discussion, it has now become common to intimidate one's detractors into silence through 'cancel culture', a ritual of public humiliation and boycotting which can often lead to the target losing his or her means of income. Free Speech is a defence of our right to express ourselves as we see fit, and takes the form of...