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Something I don't understand about the "freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences" argument is that it's an extreme form of argument in favor of the wisdom/efficacy of a completely unregulated market.
It rests on the assumption of the "marketplace of ideas," which is often explicitly refused by the very people who advance the "freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences" argument.
I guess I could understand it as an attempted application of the "logical endpoint" refutation of the "marketplace of ideas," but it's a fundamental misunderstanding of how "regulation" of speech is supposed to work.
If anything, democratic government by majority vote functions as the "free market," and protected rights can be understood as the "regulations" that prevent the exploitation of the individual, in the same way that economic market regulations are supposed to prevent exploitation.
Similar to how socialism/communism rely on an assumption that the free market is inherently exploitative and that top-down state control is the only solution, I think that "freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences" might be a similar argument for state control.
Of course, it is used gleefully to justify when the "bad" people are subject to exploitative market forces, and postmodern power arguments are utilized to decry when it happens to the "good" people, so it isn't an argument that is often applied consistently or from principle.
Anyway, I think that my point is that "regulation" is fundamentally misunderstood in this context. "Freedom from speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences" is actually a good argument for why completely unregulated markets can be a bad thing, but "regulation" is misplaced.
Similar to how regulation of an economic market should allow for healthy growth and competition of the system by seeking to prevent monopolies and exploitation, regulation of the "marketplace of ideas" by proper application of freedom of speech should prevent the same issues.
We're currently suffering a free speech crisis, because the supposedly "fair" marketplace isn't currently regulated by free speech principle. It is dominated by ideological monopoly (orthodoxy) and exploitation of individuals through political correctness and outrage culture.
Clearly, the solution isn't top-down, complete state control of the "marketplace of ideas," but rather an application of freedom of speech principle in the private sector. This has unfortunately been refused by those who synonymize freedom of speech with the first amendment.
Stating that "freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences" is like responding to the the problems of monopolies and worker exploitation inherent to a completely unregulated market and responding with "a completely unregulated market is an inherently good system."
When I say it's bad that outrage mobs cost people jobs, it's bad that people are afraid to say what they think, it's bad that people are being deplatformed, it's bad that our institutions have entrenched orthodoxy, I'm pointing out the issues inherent to an unregulated system.
Responding with "freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences" completely misses the point, and only bolsters the argument for application of freedom of speech principle to regulate the market.
I'll admit though, it's a good rhetorical trap for those who believe that freedom of speech is not a right or does not apply in the private sector, and/or apply postmodern power tactics where anything is good as long as it's effective against the ideological opponent.
Regardless, I just wanted to articulate why the "freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences" argument has been bothering me. It stumped me for a while, but was surprisingly simple to arrive at once I applied the correct framing.
Shoutout to @BretWeinstein, who has inspired a lot of my lateral thinking about markets (economic or otherwise) and other social structures as adaptive evolutionary systems.
This is a really smart idea. I'll glad that I thought of it. https://twitter.com/DavidAFrench/status/1026548600921149441
