FREE Speech on the Edge of a Parapet

Right now, freedom of speech is dangerously stationed on a parapet. If it topples, there is no climbing back – the very existence of this right would be threatened, perhaps lost for good. We stand at a moment of historical weight where the principle of free speech is not only questioned but actively eroding right before our eyes. More and more, those who exercise their right to speak find themselves punished, shamed, or silenced, as if the act of expression itself is an attack.

Such a distortion endangers liberty itself. When the simple act of using your rights is treated as an abuse of them, the foundation of free speech cracks. And yet, outrage at these cracks is itself an act of free speech. To call attention to this peril is not just a prerogative, it is a duty. If we do not speak out now, we risk losing the ability to speak at all.

Look at who is being targeted first: comedians and the press. Their craft, their essence, is language – our thoughts and opinions. Their art depends on the freedom to prod, provoke, and poke fun at the powers that be. But when they are censored, attacked, or threatened for speaking their truths, the rest of us should see the warning lights flash. Because if speech can be stripped from those whose entire profession is built upon it, how long before it is stripped from you, or me – the student writing this paper? They use their craft as a way to bolster our voice and our opinions, so that others may be able to hear it and to understand us. 

This is not hypothetical. Just last month, Jimmy Kimmel was suspended by Disney after remarks about a political killing – following heavy criticism from the current President and his supporters. Whether one agrees with Kimmel or not is beside the point. The fact that political pressure could push a broadcaster to silence a mainstream comedian should alarm us all – for if a voice that prominent can be silenced, what hope is there for the rest of us?” 

And the threats are not just limited to entertainment. Consider Mario Guevara, a journalist detained by ICE, not for a crime but for his reporting. That’s not just censorship – it’s intimidation through the machinery of the state. When governments can punish reporters for exposing uncomfortable truths, every citizen should be uneasy. Because the moment speech is chilled at the level of press and comedy, ordinary people will be next.

We forget sometimes that free speech protects more than grand speeches or front-page headlines. It protects the small things, too: the joke told at lunch, the essay in a school paper, the protest sign carried down a street. Once the boundaries of expression shrink, they rarely expand again. What disappears quietly today may be impossible to recover tomorrow.

Free speech is not a luxury, and is not just a political slogan. It is the fragile bridge between opposition and oppression. If it collapses, the fall will be permanent. And so, the question is not whether it matters; we know it does. The question is whether we will defend it before the parapet gives way.

You have the right to speak, and others have the right to disagree. What no one has the right to do is silence you for speaking.