Sterling and Jones: Is there no room left for offensive speech?

We should care because it’s a dangerous and chilling practice at odds with cherished rights of privacy and free speech. Are we embracing a new “Sterling rule” under which comments made in private to friends or family members are grounds for losing your livelihood? How long before a CPA gets called in for an unfortunate joke among friends at a neighborhood party? Does a teacher get dismissed for crude remarks made with buddies over a beer?

It’s not at all far-fetched. In the State of the First Amendment survey conducted by the First Amendment Center in 2010, 53% of respondents said you shouldn’t be allowed to say anything that might offend someone of another race. Forty-five percent said you should be barred from remarks that might offend someone of another religion.

But it’s not limits on free speech that have led to real social progress. True understanding comes from the free and open exchange of ideas and exposure to others who are different from you. Telling someone that there are economic and professional consequences for intolerant personal views doesn’t change or enlighten him. It just reinforces the intolerance.