Free speech doesn't guarantee soapbox

Amid the public outrage at former domestic terrorist and education specialist Bill Ayers' invitation to speak at Naperville North High School, and the public outrage in reaction to the aforementioned public outrage, one right was trampled repeatedly by voices claiming to defend it: The right to free speech. Ayers has a right to speak his mind, some claimed - ignoring the fact that the money required to fund this school-day excursion, no matter how little, would have been collected through the involuntary taxation of private citizens, i.e. legalized theft. Ayers, being an unrepentant terrorist, and, therefore, offensive and controversial, others claimed, has no right to speak at all to public school students - ignoring the fact that NNHS has sponsored other speakers with various views in the past (sometimes right-wing, sometimes left), also through the use of tax dollars, thereby frequently offending both sides of the fence.

People in this town, and across America, need to understand something fundamental about rights, particularly one of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment: The right to free speech only guarantees the individual's freedom from censorship, i.e. the use of force to silence someone; it is not the guarantee of a soapbox and an audience. A guarantee of the latter, while elevating one person's ability to be heard, would violate another's right to speak at all. Put in other words: To steal from Peter in order to advocate Paul's views is a monstrous denial of Peter's right to disagree with Paul, and to refuse to endorse Paul's views. Thus, the cancellation of Mr. Ayers' speaking engagement was just - though not for the reasons conservatives would have you believe. If we truly want to defend free speech, there should be no more public advocating of controversial views through speaking engagements.

Brendan Moore

Naperville