"A week before it happened, over 1,000 students at the university where Charlie Kirk was assassinated signed a petition asking that he be banned from speaking. Many others came to the event hoping to see Kirk shouted down-the heckler's veto. One assassin exercised the ultimate stop to the exercise of free speech: a bullet into Kirk's neck. Violence against the First Amendment exists on a scale. It only takes a little nudge to move the dial the wrong way."
"Yet it is easy in a divided America to claim the struggle against the monster of the week-fascism, racism, misogyny, white supremacy, whatever-overrides the old norms. Imagine the criminalization, capped by the death penalty, of certain thoughts and beliefs. Then look online (and on CNN and MSNBC) to see the cheering over Kirk's death, the gleeful belief he deserved to die because of what he believed."
Over 1,000 students at the university where Charlie Kirk was assassinated petitioned to ban him, and many attendees sought to shout him down. One assassin killed Kirk with a bullet to the neck, illustrating how noise-based suppression can escalate to lethal violence. The heckler's veto and similar tactics stifle ideas and discourage controversial expression, chilling public discourse. The Supreme Court requires that protesters not unduly interfere with communication and that authorities control disruptive actors rather than sacrifice First Amendment rights. In a polarized climate, justifying extreme suppression of ideas risks normalizing violent enforcement and mob rule.
Read at The American Conservative
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