Speaking Back

Abstract

This chapter studies the idea that the best remedy for speech with which one disagrees, or which one finds intolerable, is to engage in counter-speech, to speak back. This view, that speech will expose lies and silence will not, and that engaging in more speech is educative and therefore the appropriate remedy to speech with which one disagrees, is attractive because it engages one’s sense of fair play and justice. Given some of the free speech challenges facing the globe today, understanding the contours of counter-speech appears more important than it has ever been. The chapter then traces the origins of the idea of speaking back and its connection with theories of freedom of speech. It shows the contours of the debate around when it is, or may not be, appropriate to rely on speaking back as the preferred remedy to bad speech. The chapter also outlines alternative conceptions of speaking back, which suggest that effective speaking back requires that both it and free speech be thought of in positive, and not negative, terms. Speaking back is essential to participatory political discourse, and its realization requires more than the traditional negative conception of freedom of speech implies.