‘The Daily Show’ gets free speech

All too often when I write about someone’s views on freedom of speech and censorship, it’s because their view leans towards the latter. So I was heartened when The Daily Show ran a segment last night that got it exactly right: Not only is restricting certain kinds of speech we don’t like undemocratic (and unconstitutional), it sets a dangerous precedent that’s guaranteed to be abused and turned against the very people who called for it.

Summary:

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Trevor Noah opens the segment with a clip of Trump declaring his intention to “take a strong look” at the US’s libel laws because, he says, people can’t just lie and make money doing it. After pointing out that lying and making money doing it is basically the story of Trump’s life, Noah segues into a bit by correspondent Hasan Minhaj, “Hasan the Record”.

Minhaj showcases several recent events that revolve around free speech (NFL player protests, the Charlottesville Nazi rally, Kathy Griffin’s severed-head photoshoot, etc.). He asks whether Americans really believe in free speech and shows there are people on both the Right and the Left who want to silence speech from the other camp they find offensive. Cue news clips about violent campus demonstrations by liberals protesting fringe-Right speakers even appearing on campus; Minhaj says it’s the first time he’s cool with calling them “snowflakes”.

Minhaj explains that if we start banning “hate speech”, it turns the First Amendment into a popularity contest. What counts as “hate speech” will be defined by whomever is in power at the time, whether it’s your side or Republicans who equate Black Lives Matter with White supremacists.

So what’s the best way to respond to hateful speech without curtailing anyone’s free speech rights? By taking inspiration from Germany and its “Nazis Against Nazis” campaign. When White supremacists held a march, German businesses sponsored the event, welcomed them with pink banners, and made donations to anti-radicalization programs for as long as the march lasted. After all, Nazis are basically trolls, so the way to defeat them is to out-troll them: sell Nazis Tiki torches that attract mosquitoes, dump glitter on Richard Spencer rather than punch him, hold gay weddings at Confederate memorials, and so on.

As funny as Germany’s trolling of Nazi marchers is, that country perhaps isn’t the best example for how to deal with free speech issues, considering it arrests people for making the wrong hand gestures in public^* and recently passed an Internet “hate speech” law that’s so terrible it caused collateral damage only three days after coming into effect.

* To be clear, doing the Hitler salute in Germany (or anywhere else) is fucking stupid and is the mark of a juvenile asshole. I’m just not certain criminalizing it accomplishes anything other than giving bored police officers something to do.