Dear 6ixBuzz Readers: We Can’t Just Say Whatever

Editor's note.

When Artmis sent me this essay, it provided a first hand case study for a question that has been occupying my mind for some time, to what degree should freedom of speech exist? John Mill in his book On Liberty says. “Individuals should be free to pursue whatever serves their self-interest, so long as it doesn't harm others” (1). Mills says that the harm principle works even if an idea is wrong as it opens room for debate. This principle may have worked in a past society but with social media, individualism and our societies need to always be right, even when we are wrong, it no longer is applicable. Mill for example could never have anticipated how social media would amplify our opinions.To quote Mike Tyson “Social media made it too comfortable to disrespect people and not get punched in the face for it. By no means am I advocating for physical violence, but it brings up the point. If people feel that their speech has no consequence then it is undeniable that Mill's harm principle is outdated. Although Mill did understand that freedom of speech can lead to wrong opinions, he had no idea of how social media would spread these false ideas so rapidly.Despite this, defenders of absolute free speech often cite Mill’s harm principle as justification for its existence. I will use both flat earthers and January 6th to explain why I do not agree with this. First with flat earthers. The earth is circular, we can prove this both scientifically (by all the work NASA has done), or simply by the eye test (if you ever have the chance to look at a ship entering a harbour, it does not enter flat but instead over the horizon”). Yet, there are flat earth conventions, although Mills may argue that they cause no harm so the speech should be allowed, I would argue the opposite, these citizens refusing to accept the truth instead latch onto even crazier conspiracy theories such as the false claim that the 2020 election was rigged. On January 6th 2021, through complete freedom of speech Donald Trump managed to pressure his supporters into storming the capital and performing a coup d'etat on democracy. He used modern tools to amplify his speech such as twitter, speeches and videos to convince his supporters to stop the “steal”(2). By no means does this paper criticize the first part of Mill’s teaching, as everyone should have the right to pursue whatever they want.. However what falls short is what is defined as “harm”. This paper will use local news outlet 6IXBUZZ at showing what complete freedom of speech can look like and why it poses a problem to our society, we hope you enjoy the read.

Dear 6ixBuzz Readers: We Can’t Just Say Whatever

A Reflection on What it Means to Speak Freely

On March 7th, 2025, I was called a “lesbian femboy pedo” in a reply to my comment on a 6ixBuzz TV Instagram post by a guy with a Soldier Boy profile picture. The infamous Toronto-based ragebaiting tabloid shared a story about a drag queen who had received a hefty settlement after being falsely accused of pedophilia. Falsely accused–it was in the headline.

Falsely. 

The response was the cesspool of hatred and ignorance and Trudeau-blaming that is typical of their primary audience. A majority of the comments were homophobic and transphobic comments about drag queens, with many more blaming this supposed injustice on former prime minister Justin Trudeau (who resigned in January). A large portion of the comments, however, declared that this ruling marked the beginning of the end of free speech in Canada. While I was reading through them, I thought I was going insane. The idea that so many wholeheartedly believe that their right to free speech extends to hate speech and defamation baffled me. I mean, surely people understand that freedom of speech doesn’t literally mean you can say whatever you want without consequences–like accusing someone of being a fucking pedophile–so I fell victim to my self-righteousness and typed out a neat little sentence where I emphasised that the settlement was justified. After all, defamation is a civil offense; falsely accusing someone of a crime as severe as pedophilia can negatively affect their livelihood for obvious reasons–it’s more than reasonable grounds for a lawsuit. There had to be others who had the brains to understand that, and I would get four likes from those people and go about my day basking in the satisfaction that accompanies being right. 

What I did not anticipate was my comment getting 1400 likes and over 136 replies. Many agreed with me. 

Many did not.

I got saddled with all sorts of wonderful remarks about how all drag queens are pedophiles (they aren’t), that I was defending pedophilia (I was not), and then stating that I myself must be a pedophile… for writing that it is a civil offense to falsely accuse someone of being a pedophile. One of those responses was being told that I am a “lesbian femboy pedo” by the dude with the Soldier Boy profile picture.

All of the replies to my original comment failed to address my original point: libel is not protected under freedom of speech as it is understood in North America. Freedom of speech is not absolute; you can’t scream “Fire!” in a crowded movie theatre or repeatedly tell someone you intend to kill them without facing any consequences. The backlash towards my comment fell in line with this fundamental understanding of how free speech works.

Free speech is complicated–Socrates haggled over it when discussing whether someone has the right to speak absolutely on that which they do not know. He then ruled that nobody has that right–unless they are making their statements as matters of opinion, which are distinct from matters of knowledge. Plato beefed up old Socks’s original posits by creating a scaling by which opinions should be weighed; a diagnosis from someone who has studied medicine for years always trumps one from Web MD, and you sure as hell can’t get your appendix removed based on a surgical recommendation from Dr. Google. Well, technically, you could, but there is a very good chance that you are making an ill-informed decision that will have negative consequences.

It’s also why you can't falsely accuse people of being pedophiles and expect to get off scot free; you can technically call people whatever you want, but they are well within their rights to sue your ass for spreading bullshit that can damage their lives. 

The tragedy of my 6ixBuzz debacle is that the angry keyboard mashers don’t give a shit about freedom of speech or the importance of its protection. For them, “free speech” solely consists of speech they agree with. 6ixBuzz capitalizes off of this misconception–its success stems from its ability to provoke prejudicial responses rooted in ignorance. The potential consequences of this widespread ignorance of the function of free speech are catastrophic.

At least the courts aren’t decided by the wisdom of 6ixBuzz commenters with Soldier Boy profile pictures.

References

Mill, John Stuart, and Gertrude HIMMELFARB. On Liberty. edited with an introduction by Gertrude Himmelfarb. Harmondsworth, etc: Penguin, 1974.

“Welcome to the American Presidency Project: The American Presidency Project.” Welcome to The American Presidency Project | The American Presidency Project, April 3, 1826. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/.

Footnotes

1.) 1. John Stuart Mill and Gertrude HIMMELFARB, On Liberty. Edited with an Introduction by Gertrude Himmelfarb(Harmondsworth, etc: Penguin, 1974).

2.)This website shows all 25 tweets by Donald Trump on said day where he said such things as “Get smart Republicans. FIGHT”, and tweeted a link to watch his march where he said even more lies in real time.