Should intolerance be
tolerated in the name of
free speech?
In another topical essay, submitted as part of COMM321: Ethics of Media, Sadie Mold (graduating
in 2019 from our BSc Combined Honours programme) discusses the harms and limits of freedom of
speech, including in universities and in online spaces such as Twitter.
This essay will discuss the debate around whether harm - caused by the
freedom of speech - should be tolerated in the name of free speech. This
is an important angle from which to approach the topic of free speech,
as it is too often called upon to defend the right to assertion without
repercussion. This essay argues that the fixation on free speech as
a justification for intolerance makes it harder to talk about culture in a
nuanced, inclusive and fair way, with more points of view incorporated
and given the same right to be listened to, that freedom of speech should
be about progressing moral communication. In order to do this, this essay
will look at Lægaard’s (2007) argument in favour of tolerating intolerance
and draw on theorists of moral communication and free speech such
as Emanuel Levinas, Stanley Fish and Johan Snel to discuss cases in
which ideas of freedom of speech have been key to their reception (e.g.
cartoon controversies, university safe spaces and Twitter discourse).
Cartoon controversies
One instance in which censorship and freedom of speech have been
a topical issue in recent years is that of satirical cartoons. In 2005, the
Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten sparked widespread debate when
they published 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, some of which
depicted a terrorist. (It should be noted that some interpretations of Islam
disallow any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad [Hussain, 2007].) The
satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo reprinted the cartoons aside its own
depictions of the Prophet Muhammad; the magazine continued to print
similar cartoons for years after. The Telegraph reported that in 2012,
two Muslim organisations launched legal cases against the magazine,
accusing it of inciting racial hatred and in 2013, the magazine released
a 65-page special edition illustrated biography of the Muslim prophet.
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