Is It A Good Idea To Ban "Hate Speech?"

I enjoyed making this video for Michael Shellenberger's PUBLIC Substack

Michael Shellenberger asks a young Irish woman what she thinks of the new Hate Speech law her government is trying to pass (still from Public’s video).

The Censorship Industrial Complex continues to tighten its grip on all of us lovers of free speech and free thought. We need protection from wrongthink, the nanny state tries to persuade us. Every day, another nudge towards the desired goal of full control, using its ever-so-clever totalitarian creep methodology. The average person, overwhelmed with obligations in their hectic lives, barely notices, let alone has time to reflect on whether the effects of such ‘protection’ might be harmful or the motivations sinister. So many people trust their government.

San Fransicko author and Twitter Files co-investigator, Michael Shellenberger recently asked Dubliners what they thought of the proposed Hate Speech law that the Irish government is trying to pass. That law, if passed, would allow the police to go into people's homes to search their phones and computers for “hate speech”...

Yep, think about all the so-called “hateful” things you have written in your life, and how that would impact you if such expressions were exposed…

I was hired to make the video that goes with Public Substack’s post of today, and I really enjoyed doing so — I appreciate ‘man on the street’ interviews for their ability to capture a snapshot of what’s happening in the minds of random passers-by — even though it disappointed me that so many of those questioned thought it was erm, pretty reasonable, for such a law to come into existence.

This One Weird Trick Makes People Pro-Free Speech

The last sentence in this paragraph from Michael’s post is astonishing in that surprised-but-not-shocked way that so many of us have gotten used to in our daily digest of the news, especially these last 3.5 years:

Most alarming is the support of young people for censorship. A nationwide survey of 2,250 college students from 131 universities recently found that 74% believe that professors should be reported to the university administration if they say something offensive. Forty percent said a professor should be reported for saying the true statement, "If you look at the data, there is no evidence of anti-Black bias in police shootings."

I hope that those of you who can afford it will become paid subscribers of Public to see the video in its entirety, and read the full post to learn of Michael’s ‘trick’ to remind people that free speech is a good thing. (The trick is likely the solution to a lot of society’s woes). Public is one of my favourite Substacks, tackling many of the issues I care about; I highly recommend subscribing to support independent journalism here in the Bay Area and beyond.

And also, I too would very much appreciate your support so that I can continue my work here in this very expensive city, thank you. 🙏🏾