"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" (attributed to Voltaire) curious what people think of this remark today. I will post on both Twitter & Bluesky & look forward to responses.
Replies
Voltaire never said this, also solidarity is more improtant than free speech. I won't defend hateful discourse or misinformation, it simply takes away energy from solidarity with the affected.
sep 2, 2025, 3:22 pm • 3 0 • view
who said it?
sep 2, 2025, 11:48 pm • 0 0 • view
Evelyn Beatrice Hall, Voltaire's biographer
sep 3, 2025, 12:31 am • 0 0 • view
Free speech does has limits, and as a society we should have no tolerance for intolerance. We really should punish fascist/Nazi rhetoric more strictly so it can't flourish.
sep 2, 2025, 2:57 pm • 1 0 • view
It goes back to the paradox of complete tolerance meaning tolerating the intolerant. In my opinion, no one should tolerate one who would deny rights to others based on gender, race, nationality or faith.
sep 2, 2025, 3:02 pm • 1 0 • view
highly depends on what the consequences of said speech are. things like hate speech have real, lasting impacts on entire massive groups of people because of how they shift wider public perception. in a lot of those kind of cases the "right balance" tends to be to not allow it at all
sep 2, 2025, 2:56 pm • 2 0 • view
I think many people have succumbed to letting fear drive them towards a short sighted view of trying to assert conformity in a vain attempt to assure social cohesion. But, short of direct, actionable calls to violent action against the oppressed, I still hold to the value of free expression.
sep 2, 2025, 5:06 pm • 0 0 • view
Also, more pragmatically, given the structures of power, that speech which is policed as "dangerous" will always include that which seems to threaten the powers that be and their authority.
sep 2, 2025, 5:08 pm • 2 0 • view
I think Voltaire would have added a couple caveats to this quote had he lived to see how right he was about being made to believe absurdities can lead to committing atrocities.
sep 2, 2025, 3:12 pm • 1 0 • view
idk, the guy spent a year in the Bastille for blasphemy against the monarchy. The early 18th century had its share of atrocities, yet he never wavered in his outspoken defense of civil liberties. It’s not as if us recent folk invented atrocities…
sep 2, 2025, 11:55 pm • 0 0 • view
Mutually? Unilaterally? Hmm… I do still agree with the quote.
sep 2, 2025, 4:16 pm • 1 0 • view
All too often, it'll be unilateral.
sep 2, 2025, 9:39 pm • 1 0 • view
This is true.
sep 3, 2025, 11:15 am • 1 0 • view
Folks here seem to put greater urgency on disagree. Certain threatening and harassment speech was never protected. However because enforcement can be spotty they want to empower the government to broadly censor speech which is just handing a gun to conservatives who have access to national power.
sep 2, 2025, 7:14 pm • 1 0 • view
Allowing the government to choose what kind of speech is illegal is a HORRIBLE idea! 90% of the people on this site would have their speech criminalized for being “hateful to America” if an administration like this one had that authority!
sep 2, 2025, 3:15 pm • 4 0 • view
People tediously trot this quote out to justify hate speech. Voltaire was a racist and slave-owner who said Black people were a step up from apes and this quote isn’t even his but a summary of his views by biographer Evelyn Beatrice Hall. Free speech depends on Karl Popper’s Paradox of Tolerance.
sep 2, 2025, 3:09 pm • 3 2 • view
True he was bad on race even by the standards of the time (ie amongst philosophers.) But that does not mitigate his brave, outspoken belief in freedom of speech. Or cancel the ever-lasting brilliance of Candide, which gave us the most famous philosophical adage ever: cultivate your own garden.
sep 3, 2025, 12:05 am • 0 0 • view
Well yes, I read it. And you read the rest too, yes? There’s no hero or villain here. Voltaire was the product of his racist time, as we are the products of ours.
sep 3, 2025, 12:20 am • 0 0 • view
Yes read the rest & yes I agree in regard to race he was the product of his times (like we are, yes.) My only point was let’s not forget his devotion to free speech, which was brave & good (for one year in the Bastille!) and his work, which is so brilliant it is still studied 300 years later.
sep 3, 2025, 11:05 am • 0 0 • view
And I for one have never heard a MAGAT or a Proud Boy or a Nick Fuente-type quote Voltaire, have you? They’ve got plenty of more recent resources to work from.
sep 3, 2025, 11:16 am • 0 0 • view
I have. That was the reason for my reply in the first place. But don’t fret, Voltaire’s place in history is secure, his quote always there to provide cover for toxic people 🤷♂️
sep 3, 2025, 12:31 pm • 0 0 • view
as if they need cover from Voltaire. Risible.
sep 3, 2025, 12:37 pm • 0 0 • view
💯%
sep 2, 2025, 11:47 pm • 0 0 • view
Ha! Growing up in the 60s that was the de rigueur position of liberals based on the false assumption that insane extremists would always remain a minority to be tolerated until they came to their senses.
sep 2, 2025, 3:32 pm • 1 0 • view
A motto by which I was raised to live (by my Da). The Ma had an addendum: Unless you want to kill people, in which case I put you DOWN
sep 2, 2025, 3:06 pm • 1 0 • view
I can tell u what Frenchmen/women think of this today: It's a principle more honored in the breach. My recent response to the Leftist Insoumis party announcing 95% of its members had voted in favor of its platform "Like the good ol' Soviet days!" was met w/ "Amscram, troll!" & bugspray pointed at me
sep 2, 2025, 5:36 pm • 0 0 • view
Agree. And I also will defend to the death my right to say (prove) what you say is wrong
sep 2, 2025, 2:54 pm • 1 0 • view