Alright , , you ' ve made an argument that gets brought up quite a bit in these sorts of debates . However , you ' re still wrong , and here ' s whyYes , free speech can sometimes harm people , but who gets to determine what forms of speech are harmful and which ones are acceptable ? We could talk about that all day , and in the end it comes to who is deciding it and what biases they have . Consider this , what if someone decided that you shouldn ' t be able to promote Communism ? Let ' s say they claim that since millions have been purged and starved to death in Communist regimes that Communism is too harmful to be allowed to spread . I ' m sure you ' d be opposed to that . Banning any form of earnest expression opens the door to further intrusions and it ends up hurting the innocent . However , let me make it clear I am not referring to harassment , defamation , or advocating for real violence . These forms of speech already are illegal , even in the US . This topic is not new , people for hundreds of years have talked about this . The common consensus came several years ago that the right for people to express themselves is a necessary and universal one , no matter who is doing the talking . That is a principle many have fought for , have died for , and for good reason . Think of how many movements , how much progress would have been shut down as soon as it started if people didn ' t have the right to express their true opinions ? Think of how many genocides and massive crimes would have been stopped if people were able to speak their mind freely and say , Hey , this is wrong ! People will abuse their free speech to say things that are wrong and downright horrible . Banning their speech is not the answer , we must not ask for lighter loads , but ask for stronger backs . Critical thinking is a skill everyone should learn , research topics you ' re not sure about , debate to your heart ' s content . Ideas deserve to be challenged , that ' s how they grow and change . Stifling any form of debate that you don ' t approve of is not the answer .