Last weekend I read an interesting debate between Billy Nye, a TV personality, engineer and science educator, and William Happer, a real scientist.
It turns out that on Earth Day, CNN invited the two men — again, one a real scientist, the other primarily a TV personality. Not surprisingly they disagreed on the topic of Global Warming. Nye believes fully it exists, is man caused and we will destroy the Earth because of it.
Happer disagreed, saying the Earth has not warmed as much as many say and that warming and cooling trends are natural.
Now, I am not writing this to debate global warming. My concern with the CNN discussion came not when Nye debated global warming, but when he criticized CNN for allowing someone who does not believe to appear on the channel.
From Nye’s perspective, anyone who thinks global warming is not a man-made tragedy needs to be shut up and ignored. Yes, even if that person is a real scientist. Nye’s comments came just days after Howard Dean, a former Democrat candidate for president, tweeted that Ann Coulter should not be allowed to speak at the University of California because her speech is hate speech.

Dean tried to make the argument that hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment.
And that is where the problem lies. Do some view Ann Coulter’s opinions as hate speech? Yes they do.
Do many believe global warming is real, man made and a threat to the Earth? Yes they do. But even if those were both proven to be 100 percent true, and they have not been, it doesn’t excuse trying to shut up people who think differently.
Over the last few months there has been numerous times when left-wing protestors have tried to shut up conservative speakers just because they disagree with them. And many times they have been successful. To me that is troubling.
Regardless of what you want to say, regardless of whether it’s popular or not, one of the foundations of our country is you have the right to say it. Free speech is a tricky thing. The protection in our Constitution doesn’t exist to protect words that most will agree with.
Free speech exists for the opposite reason. It exists to allow the most hateful, vile speech to be said loud and clear on the public square. Free speech is there to allow Westboro Baptist Church to protest at funerals of fallen service members. It’s there to allow Ann Coulter to espouse her right-wing beliefs and it’s there to allow some to deny the Holocaust even happened.
No one needs free speech protections to have someone stand up and say how great things are. We could all stand shoulder to shoulder to support that. Freedom of speech, perhaps the greatest freedom in the Constitution, exists when what you want to say is controversial and likely to anger those who hear it.
And never has the freedom of speech been more important. With governments — local, state and federal — growing more powerful by the day and fewer and fewer real statesmen in elected positions, we as Americans desperately need the right to speak our minds without fearing arrest and prosecution.
In this time of political turmoil, limiting free speech is not the answer. Hearty debates on important issues must be had. Trying to shut up your political appointments either via intimidation or changing rules is bad for America and bad for the future of our country.
I don’t always agree with Ann Coulter or Bill Nye. I almost never agree with Westboro Baptist Church and never agree with Holocaust deniers. But I do support their right to share their opinions, just as I support my right not to listen.