"Too many people believe in something closer to freedom from speech rather than freedom of speech," says attorney Greg Lukianoff. In a timely talk, he warns against the rise of "mob censorship" — and reminds us why free speech is the best check on power ever invented.For a chance to give your own TED Talk, fill out the Idea Search Application: ted.com/ideasearch.Interested in learning more about upcoming TED events? Follow these links:TEDNext: ted.com/futureyouTEDSports: ted.com/sportsTEDAI Vienna: ted.com/ai-viennaTEDAI San Francisco: ted.com/ai-sf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. Freedom is a fragile thing and something that can mean many different things to different people. In this talk, journalist and lawyer Greg Lukianoff warns against what he calls mob censorship.
He asks people to consider what happens when disruptive protests silence opposing views and reminds us that free speech is a crucial safeguard for truth, safety, and the powerless.
Shut it down. That was the order given by angry students in response to a pro-Israel speaker. This is UC Berkeley 2024, and pro-Palestinian students were determined not to let this talk happen. A call to action went out on social media, urging students to shut down the event, and nearly 200 students showed up.
They attacked the venue, they broke down a door, they broke a window, and they forced the speaker to flee. Now, I have defended the free speech rights of literally thousands of students and their right to protest, but you do not have the right to shut down someone else's talk and decide for everyone else who they are allowed to hear. That is mob censorship, not freedom of speech.
But unfortunately, 2023 and 2024 were the two worst years for mob censorship and shout-downs on record. Now, to be clear, not all speech is protected, nor should it be. There are certain categories of speech acts like incitement to violence, harassment and true threats that aren't protected. Indeed, if there is such a thing as a free speech absolutist, I have never met one.
But I am an opinion absolutist. I believe that all opinions should be protected and your right to free speech is a human right. But I also believe everyone's opinion is crucial data to have about the world. But then again, I'm the weird law student who went to law school specifically to study freedom of speech and the First Amendment.
There was this one dude who actually laughed at me that I would never find a job in this field. Well, joke's on him. I've been doing this now for 25 years at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Fire.
And that 25 years of experience has allowed me to see both how far students have fallen from understanding freedom of speech, but also how principled and even joyful they used to be in defense of free speech not very long ago. I think of West Virginia University about 20 years ago. It was a lefty student group, and they were objecting to a free speech zone policy.
Free Speech Zones is an Orwellian name for these policies that actually restrict and quarantine free speech to little tiny corners of campus. They thought this was ridiculous, so they protested the zone outside of the zone. And what would happen is sometimes locals would walk by, and they'd make fun of the students. They'd hackle them, they'd insult them.
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