[TheNewsIsHere]

It seems to me that a truly free speech absolutist reply would be “yes” to all of the above.

But I submit that given our current state of affairs as a species, I don’t think we could handle that “yes”.

That “yes” coexisting in a harmonious world that is safe and sound would require that speech that incites violence or vandalism isn’t acted upon, for example. That the market could and would reliably be able to detect and counter deceitful manipulation. That somehow the market would be able to do the same with lies about a product or service.

It also suggests abdicating accountability for when such a seemingly perfect system would fail and result in harm.

These things seem implausible in our current reality. A lack of accountability seems undesirable generally and is already something that we suffer enough.