Freedom of speech is hard

Freedom of speech has unimaginable and unlimited upside potential. Historically, we have Paine and Stowe, and the modern scientific revolution and today's technological miracles has its roots in scientists finally getting the point that they should publish their ideas and findings instead of keeping them secret or only for their limited community as they had done for thousands of years prior.

Those opposed to freedom of speech constantly proclaim its downsides: shouts about intellectual property piracy, child pornography, and terrorism certainly are the shrillest these days.

Freedom of speech is fundamentally hard. If you believe in freedom of speech except for That One Thing which you find horribly repugnant and for which you believe speech ought to be curtailed, then with a Murphy's Law-like inevitability, someone will want to say precisely That One Thing. People just like to press other people's buttons. Multiply this effect by the whole population, and it's clear why freedom of speech is constantly being chipped away at.

I'm not a fan of blind faith when it comes to religion, but I believe faith is warranted here. Believe that the good from freedom of speech outweighs the bad, even though the bad is often painfully visible, but the good is hard to see.