PragerU founder Dennis Prager proclaimed that freedom of speech is critically important and that without it “freedom dies.”
In his most recent episode of PragerU’s Fireside Chat, Prager discussed the vital importance of being able to speak freely. “The most important freedom in the world is freedom of speech, the most important freedom there is. Because without it, every other freedom dies,” he said. “If people cannot say what they think, then among other things, you have been rendered a robot; your dignity is shattered; you become a cog. It is truly scary.”
The conversation was sparked by a recent Pew research study that found that “Most Americans favor restrictions on false information, violent content online.” The study discovered that 55 percent of Americans support the U.S. government “should take steps to restrict false information even if it limits freedom of information.” Sixty-five percent of Americans supported tech companies doing the same. Prager noted that the numbers become even more disturbing when broken down by political parties. Thirty-nine percent of those who lean Republican and 70 percent of those who lean Democrat supported restricting so-called false information online.
55% of Americans say the U.S. government should take steps to moderate false information online, and 65% want tech companies to take these steps. https://t.co/8gVUxMgXfb pic.twitter.com/9oEwmv25L6
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) July 20, 2023
Although a wanton disregard for free speech has apparently become popular, Prager characterized the disturbing welcome of censorship as “about as scary as it gets short of an attack by extraterrestrials.”
“You have to understand that every tyrannical government, the most vicious governments in history have used the line ‘oh that’s false information or misinformation’ in order to shut down all dissent and opposition. That is all that this is about,” Prager said. “That half of Americans and the vast majority of Democrats is proof that the last generations of Americans did not teach their children what free speech is about, what freedom is about.”
He later noted that the purpose of the First Amendment is to protect speech that others may find disagreeable. “Freedom of speech is not freedom for speech I like, it’s freedom for speech I don’t like. That’s the whole point of free speech,” Prager said.
He referred to the commonly asked question of who decides what is and is not misinformation: “Who are you to tell me what is misinformation? You can tell me but who are you to stop me from speaking?” As Prager put it, “You can say that what I say is misinformation but you cannot do a thing to suppress my saying it. That’s the way it works.”
The PragerU founder noted that ideas can often be subjectively identified as misinformation:
It’s called misinformation now if you say there are only two sexes or only two genders as the left puts it. That’s called misinformation. I dare say, misinformation is to say that there are more than two sexes or more than two genders. That’s misinformation. But I would never suppress your right to say it. You think there are 52 genders like Facebook does, ok you are entitled to your distorted view of humanity.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
