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Column: When one of us is silenced, all of us are – The Daily Tar Heel

Opinion

Column: When one of us is silenced, all of us are

By Sydney Baker , Owen Baxter and Madelyn Rowley

Published Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025

On Sept. 10, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at a “Prove Me Wrong” event at Utah Valley University. In the days following the event, a slew of public responses — some horrified, some celebratory, some political, some analytical — engulfed all channels of sociopolitical communication. The presidential administration and the executive bureaucracy responded with a sweeping implication: those who celebrate or rationalize his death should be censored.

While guest-hosting an episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” Vice President JD Vance encouraged Americans to take direct action against responses too callous for his liking. “Call them out,” he said, “and hell, call their employer.” The chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, delivered a mob boss-esque conviction to the employers of satirists and late-night commentators: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” Attorney General Pam Bondi recently said on a podcast that the federal government “will absolutely target” and “go after” people who express “hate speech.” 

This response makes one thing deafeningly clear: President Donald Trump and the current administration do not care to uphold truly free speech, despite years of insisting otherwise.

In the minutes after Kirk was shot, Republican figureheads condemned the killing of a person who was exercising his right to free speech. Yet many of these figureheads quickly lapsed into a contradictory pledge: initiating the silencing of others spouting rhetoric they personally disagree with.

Aside from being hypocritical, this vow is blatantly unconstitutional. Even if the censored commentary could appropriately be deemed “hate speech,” it would still be protected under the First Amendment. Any UNC journalism student in the most introductory course on media law could testify to this truth — as long as speech does not constitute a true threat, incitement to imminent lawless action, harassment or defamation, it is protected. And although private employers may deal out whatever consequences they deem appropriate to their employees, this strong-arming of private entities to take specific, state-sanctioned action is inorganic — and unconstitutional. If the president and attorney general do not understand free speech law, they are grossly unfit for their positions. If they do, these actions directly defy legal precedent.

Without a foundation of free speech, America would not exist. Social commentary, regardless of if it is believed to be distasteful, disrespectful or flat-out immoral, is a unique pillar of the democracy that our constitution promises U.S. citizens. The depth and variety of this response — the impacts stretched from opinion columnists to news anchors to professors to mere passport-havers — form the makings of a country where everyone is under threat of being muzzled. That’s not a country that truly cares to protect free speech, no matter how many times the head executive makes claims to the contrary. 

Authoritarianism and censorship are cancers; they’re much harder to fight once they’ve spread. Those with the liberty to respond have a frighteningly limited amount of time to react with swift, appropriate action. But here’s the silver lining: resistance works. When ABC indefinitely suspended the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show under threat from the FCC for “insensitive” comments about Kirk’s death, millions responded in protesting boycotts. In less than 30 hours, parent company Disney had lost almost $4 billion in stock — and by Monday afternoon, the show was reinstated. Resistance proves that we will not take a violation of our constitutional rights quietly.

In a statement on Kimmel’s suspension, the Writers Guilds of the American East and West declared that the right not just to disagree, but to disturb, lies at the core of the First Amendment. To employers succumbing to government censorship, the Guilds highlighted just that: “Our words have made you rich. Silencing us impoverishes the whole world.” 

It’s woefully naive to think that this crackdown won’t impact us all. If we can’t organize together to protect our supposed shared value of free expression, we’re complicit in a nation-wide blackout of our people-powered country. A world without fervent voices is not tranquil — it’s destitute. Our words are the electricity of democracy, avenues to obstruct dictatorship.

The government must make no attempt to abridge this freedom.

Editor’s Note: Proud to see the young students at UNC’s daily newspaper speaking out in defense of Freedom of Speech. Makes me feel the future might work ok ;)…

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Column: When one of us is silenced, all of us are –

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Spent a delightful day with the Honi Soit (USyd student newspaper) editorial team yesterday, workshopping how to editor, and their passion and care and interest was so pure I feel more energised than I have in months.

Go you good things.

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Front of the UNC Chapel Hill student newspaper after the school shooting lockdown. Grim.

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Now's as good a time as any for an #introduction!

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