Ep. 256: Ten arguments against free speech

Oct 30, 2025

We tackle ten common arguments against free speech.

FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff and FIRE Senior Fellow and former ACLU President Nadine Strossen are the co-authors of the new book, “War on Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail.”

Transcript

Timestamps: 

00:00 Intro 

01:18 Book’s origins

04:25 Argument #1: Words are violence

20:27 Argument #2: Words are dangerous

25:09 Argument #3: Hate speech isn’t free speech

31:06 Argument #4: About shoutdowns

37:18 Argument #5: Free speech is outdated

45:41 Argument #6 Free speech is right-wing

50:14 Argument #7: About that crowded theater and marketplace of ideas

59:27 Argument #9: Misinformation and disinformation

01:03:53 Argument #8: Free speech protects power

01:09:30 Argument #10: About the Holocaust and Rwandan genocide

01:13:35 Outro

Get the Book:
Purchase War on Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today (https://www.thefire.org/) and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more. If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email [e-mail].