The Strangeness of Free Speech

To pursue a steady commitment to freedom of speech is a difficult choice. It entails a suppression of the desire to silence or somehow restrict the opinions of people with whom you disagree, a decision to allow their speech in spite of your disagreement, and in spite of the evil effects which may come from their exercise of the freedom. Self-sacrifice, it has been said, enables us to sacrifice others without blushing, and those who are for restricting speech certainly have this kind of consis...