Free Speech Does Not Remove The Duty To Not Be A Jerk

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

A simple headline count this morning would indicate the the biggest news of the last cycle was the return of a certain host to late night television – even if a significant portion of the networks affiliates did not air the show.  Disclaimer, didn’t watch – didn’t want to watch, hadn’t watched before.  Don’t really care.  But there are some issues at play here worth discussing.

The Left wants to make this a free speech issue.  It’s not.  That late night host (I won’t say his name – I do not want to contribute to making ratings for a deservedly failing show) had the right to say what he said.  The host explained yesterday that the FCC had a statutory requirement to do what they did.  Legally there is no issue here for anyone, no violation of requirement or duty.

Call me old fashioned, call me a curmudgeon, call me something much harsher – I was raised that free speech does not entitle me to be a jerk – that just because I can say something does not mean I should say something.  Further, if I say something “irresponsible” (meaning unsubstantiated or just flat ugly) I might just have to pay a price for it in loss of friends, or invitations to speak, or just in watching people walk away.

Speech is dangerous and powerful stuff – it can lift up or it can tear down – it can demonize or deify – it can incite or it can inspire.  Freedom of speech means that the path speech takes is up to the speaker and its effectiveness is up to the listener – not the government.

That late night host may be back on the air, but it does not matter.  One, what he said was definitely irresponsible.  Two, he lost massive audience, and I have a feeling after this rush of free publicity, he’ll lose a whole lot more.  He has won no “victory” here – he has simply proven his right to be a jerk, even while failing at his duty not to be.  Somehow I think the nation is through listening to or dealing with jerks.  Given the number of affiliates lost, he’ll be off the air soon anyway.

In the last few weeks we have learned an important lesson.  Jerks have a right to be jerks, but we also have a duty to ignore and marginalize them.  If we fail at our duty, if we tolerate them, they become bigger and bigger jerks until something truly ugly and evil happens.

This new communication era has created a situation where even a small audience can pay off for a content creator financially.  And because there has always been some small audience for jerks, they can now survive in the media world.  Given the right of free speech, that places a greater burden on us, the audience, to live up to our duty.  And in this communication era, that means reducing their possible audience to nearly nil levels.

Which means we have to work much harder than ever before in history to make more people better people.  That’s a tall order,  If that memorial Sunday was any indication, we have a good start – but we have to capitalize on it.