Trigger Warning, by Nick Hume

Trigger warning: "a statement at the start of any piece of writing, video, etc., alerting the reader or viewer to the fact that it contains material they might find upsetting or offensive."

Nick Hume has a warning for us.  Free speech is under attack.  In Trigger Warning: Is the Fear of Being Offensive Killing Free Speech? Hume details the many fronts on which free speech is losing ground to the "reverse Voltaires."  Voltaire said "I disapprove of what you say, but I will fight to the death your right to say it."  The reverse Voltaires, who have taken over college campuses, politics, and the media, say, "I know I will detest what you say, and I will defend to the end of free speech for my right to stop you saying it."  As Hume says, "Strange . . . that so many now choose to exercise their freedom of speech in order to tell the rest of us what we can't say."

The turn-around has been rapid and ironic.  Hume points out that "feminist, trans, [and] anti-racist activists today . . . demand restrictions on free speech as a means of protecting the rights of the identity groups they claim to represent."  The irony is that "without the efforts of those who fought for more free speech in the past, these illiberal activists would not be free to stand up and fall for less of it in the present."

In this age of the "self-censoring 'sorry majority,'" microaggressions, speech codes, Twitter censoring, and social media shaming, Hume pulls us to return to a place of free speech, open minds, and open expression.  Today it seems like "offending others is the worst offense of all."  But limits on offensive speech are limits on free speech.  We need to reject the "reverse Voltaires" and celebrate the freedom to say what we want, no matter who it might offend.  As Hume writes, "Trigger Warnings that hold a pistol to the head of free speech should have us all reaching for our metaphorical guns to fight for the right to things what we like, and say what we think."


Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!