From an early age many children in the United States are taught that all opinions are valid and equal. When it comes to hateful ideology and hate speech, that becomes a problem. Free speech does not mean freedom from consequences, yet we are in an era where hateful ideologies are now being considered as valid political opinions and are given a platform at the highest levels in our country. This talk discusses the need to understand our responsibilities when it comes to free speech and the consequences of unfettered hate speech in our culture. We need to critically interrogate the validity of all ideas and get back to privileging reason and argument when it comes to freedom of speech. It is also important to engage in civil dialogue with people who do not always share our same worldview. Katia Campbell is an Associate Professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She earned her doctoral degree from the University of Denver in the areas of Rhetoric, Diversity, and Media Studies.
Her scholarship and teaching focuses on rhetoric, free speech, cultural representation, popular media, and critical pedagogy. She also consults and facilitates workshops on Communication and Diversity, Media Literacy, Free Speech, Public Speaking, and Dialogic Ethics. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx