opinion
NO ‘GOOD CENSORSHIP’
Many progressives insist the constitutional right to free speech is a “tool of the oppressor.” They could not be more wrong.
New York Law School Professor Emerita Nadine Strossen, past national President of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008), is a Senior Fellow with FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) and a leading expert and frequent speaker/media commentator on two constitutional law and civil liberties, who has testified before Congress on multiple occasions. She serves on the advisory boards of the ACLU, Academic Freedom Alliance, Heterodox Academy, and National Coalition Against Censorship. The National Law Journal has named Strossen one of America’s “100 Most Influential Lawyers.” She is the author of HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship (2018) and Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know (forthcoming fall 2023). She is also the Host and Project Consultant for Free To Speak, a three-hour documentary film series scheduled for release in fall 2023. In 2023, the National Coalition Against Censorship (an alliance of more than 50 national non-profit organizations) selected Strossen for its Lifetime Achievement Award for Free Speech.
BACKFIRE
Shutting down people who say hateful things may be satisfying, but the best way to combat hate is through robust free speech, even when it offends.