Freedom is subjective. For some it means the freedom to use slurs while for others it means the freedom to speak up for their rights. The freedom of speech is one of the most upheld values of modern society and, if a number of people ( mostly conservative) are to be believed, it’s under attack-that too by a bunch of whiny, college –going liberal teenagers and social justice warriors(SJWs).
Let’s examine that claim shall we?
When we demand freedom of speech, we demand that all voices be given an equal platform and the voices of those who go unheard or haven’t had a platform to voice their opinions and issues out loud can also amplify their voices. This also means that if speech is to be truly equal-the opinions of the minority must be given the same pedestal as those of the majority. That is, they need to be amplified by those outside of the community as well.
Freedom of speech doesn’t only mean the right to speak out but also the right to have your voice heard. And that’s where minorities face a disadvantage. When minorities such as LGBT+ people, people of color and women speak up, their voices are heard and resonated by a much smaller section of society (mostly by members of the same community). This isn’t to say that most people don’t sympathize though. They do, but the voices of the majority will always be heard louder.
It must be noted that when most social minorities do make their voices heard, they’re almost always de-platformed or booed. When Lil Nas X, the rapper came out as gay, a large number of people went ahead and boycotted his music.Not because they didn't like his music, but because it was music created by "someone like him". When most trans people or sex workers talk about their issues they’re always branded with the age old slurs and their issues sidelined.More over they’re told that they chose this lifestyle and they should toughen up and deal with it. But we need to understand that most social minorities have been “dealing with it” since ages. These slurs ,whether we mean it or not,do offend, discredit and moreover , silence the respective minorities. They have faced discrimination and aren’t viewed favorably by large sections of society. This effectively dampens their “freedom of speech” systematically instead of doing it outright.
But YouTubers shaming trans people and other minorities are branded as “dank” and treated as heroes. Essentially, their freedom of speech is way more protected. Even when they’re called out for their apparent sexism and homophobia, they claim that it’s an infringement of their freedom of speech. Here's where they claim that the whiny modern liberals won't even allow them to exercise their birthright of freedom of speech.
A large number of conservative and right wing people have said that the left and the liberals are attacking their free speech and their freedom. They claim that the left’s solution to every
criticism is to brand the person as “racist”, “misogynistic”, “homophobic’, “Islamophobia” and silence them.They claim that their voices aren’t being heard and they don’t have any power anymore because of the use of these terms. Well, if we actually look into what they say, they seem to be describing “micro aggression”.
What exactly do we mean by micro aggressions?
We mean any phrase or word that triggers a sense of disempowerment and is intended to target the community/ideology of the person. If this sounds like a vague concept, it’s really not. We experience examples of micro aggression against many communities in our daily life. We dismiss any person who doesn’t fit our idea of gender as “chakka”, “meetha” etc. We dismiss Muslims as mullah. This isn’t very different from people of color being called the n-word. In all instances, we intentionally or unintentionally end up discrediting the person. It’s almost as if we believe that their voices don’t matter because of the background they come from.
This doesn’t even account for the large number of times most minorities don’t speak about suppression (most of history) due to a fear of getting attacked and caricatured. How will we create a safe space for women and trans people to speak up when videos titled “Transgender Cringe Compilation” and “Feminazi Cringe Compilation” exist with a massive amount of views and supportive comments?
By this principle, it’s almost certain that someone’s freedom of speech will be threatened when someone’s is protected. In that sense, true free speech is theoretically unachievable. But we must ask ourselves whose freedom of speech will we protect more - that of the majority which has made its voice heard since centuries or the minorities whose voices are beginning to be heard and amplified much recently. It makes a statement when you jump to protect the freedom of speech of either one and it’s your statement to make.
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