America's Most Dangerous Anti-Free Speech Era

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley warns of the mounting threats to free speech in the United States, describing it as the most dangerous anti-free speech period in history.

In the midst of heightened national division, we find ourselves immersed in a profound debate over the core values that shape our society, particularly the fundamental right to free speech. However, this debate has taken an alarming turn, characterized by escalating anger and animosity from campuses to Congress.

While this heightened rage is not without precedent in American history, the current era poses a unique threat to the very essence of free speech. The United States was born out of rage, exemplified by the Boston Tea Party's defiant act of defiance that sparked the American Revolution. Throughout our history, we have witnessed cyclical periods of societal unrest and state rage, with free speech often becoming the first casualty.

America's Most Dangerous Anti-Free Speech Era

Indeed, this period stands as arguably the most dangerous anti-free speech era in our nation's history. The government, corporations, and academia have formed a powerful alliance that poses a serious threat to free speech values. Ironically, these same entities invoke concerns over "fake news" and "disinformation," mirroring the very rationales used by the British Crown and the U.S. government to suppress free speech in the early days of the American republic.

However, the current censorship system extends far beyond historical precedents, encompassing campuses, corporations, and Congress. Law professors advocate for altering the First Amendment, arguing for a more "equity"-based approach that would allow the government to curtail speech. Politicians and pundits denounce defenders of free speech as "Putin lovers" and "insurrectionist sympathizers."

America's Most Dangerous Anti-Free Speech Era

Despite the alarming rise of this anti-free speech movement, there is reason for hope. The inherent human need for free speech, etched into our DNA, ensures that our appetite for it will never truly diminish. We are wired as humans to express ourselves freely, to project part of ourselves into the world around us. Free speech is essential to our very humanity.

This alliance may succeed in dampening our desire for free speech, but it can never extinguish it. It is not the rage that defines us, but the unwavering commitment to free speech. Throughout our nation's history, we have had dissenting heroes who have fearlessly defended the right to speak, even in the face of state rage. These true dissenters, from anarchists and unionists to communists and feminists, risked everything to uphold our most cherished values.

America's Most Dangerous Anti-Free Speech Era

Justice Louis Brandeis once described free speech as an "indispensable right," a concept that captures our inherent conflict with free speech. While Brandeis and his colleague Oliver Wendell Holmes are revered as civil libertarians, they have also supported some of the most egregious denials of free speech in our history. Holmes infamously declared that free speech protections do not permit citizens to shout "fire" in a crowded theater, a rationale that continues to be invoked as a justification for censorship.

Anita Whitney, a feminist from a privileged background, defied threats of arrest to speak out against lynchings in California in 1919. Despite police presence on stage, she refused to be silenced. Her conviction was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court, including Brandeis and Holmes.

America's Most Dangerous Anti-Free Speech Era

Time and again, America has abandoned its free speech values when faced with political dissent, leading to mass crackdowns and imprisonments. Yet, we can learn from these historical missteps as history repeats itself. The alliance against free speech grows stronger, but so does the resolve of those who recognize the importance of this fundamental right.

In the end, this is not our first or last age of rage. But it is free speech that defines us as a nation, not the raging debates that may temporarily divide us.

America's Most Dangerous Anti-Free Speech Era