In my latest National Post column I remind politicians that John Stuart Mill’s classic defence of free speech applies every bit as much to social media as to the spoken, written or broadcast word.

(You can watch the beginning and hear the rest of my testimony on the subject to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights on June 4, as well as that of Mark Steyn and Lindsay Shepherd, on ParlVu (my prepared remarks begin at 9:09).

On June 4 I appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to testify on online hate, and urged them not to censor even loathsome opinions because truth will prevail in a contest of ideas. You can watch the beginning of the session and hear the rest including my testimony on ParlVu (my prepared remarks begin at 9:09).

See also my June 5 National Post column adapted from that testimony.

In my latest National Post column I say art galleries should not hide paintings after some Muslims call them blasphemous.

“‘What is it that I don’t know?’ Sir Humphrey feigned ignorance. ‘Minister,’ he said, ‘I don’t know what you don’t know. It could be almost anything.’”

A Jim Hacker diary entry in Yes Minister Vol. I

In a piece in C2C Journal that I forgot to post at the time, I argue that social licence sounds good, or did until we discovered you couldn’t get one. But in fact it’s just another way of saying “tyranny of the majority” which is bad in principle and worse in practice because it means mob rule by a fanatical minority