Opinion: Responsible and free speech — and fixing things when they go sideways

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We talk a lot about freedom of speech in this country, and rightly so. It’s foundational to who we are as Americans. But we don’t spend nearly enough time talking about the responsibility that comes with freedom of speech. In this moment, when our political system feels increasingly strained and the stakes keep getting higher, we can’t afford to ignore the way words can escalate into harm.

The assassinations of Rep. Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark and their dog Gilbert, and the attempted murder of the Hoffman family seems to be, based on what we know at the moment, a devastating example of politically motivated violence. And in their wake, many people are leaning into the idea that things need to change. That our rhetoric needs to change. We have free speech, but we don’t have consequence-free speech.

Take this case: a lobbyist charged with making threats, citing grief over the Hortmans’ deaths as his justification. Grief is powerful. It can distort judgment and fuel despair and cause us to say and do things that we normally wouldn’t. But it’s not an excuse, especially when so many other members of the capitol community were on edge. As an explanation it makes sense, it may help us understand what happened, but that doesn’t make it OK.

Or this one: the city council member who leaned into conspiracy theories on a Facebook post. While she later claimed it was a poorly worded expression of concern, it’s not hard to grasp why her constituents were upset. Again — the explanation makes sense. It may help us understand what happened, but that doesn’t make it OK.

That said, I don’t think punishments and reprimands are the only options here. If we want to de-escalate the broader climate — if we really want to bring down the rhetorical temperature, start to build bridges across our divides and reduce the risk of future violence — we also have to wrestle with how we respond when people get it wrong. Really wrong.

Accountability matters. But so does the ability to come back from failure. Even spectacular failure. We’re going to have to find space, culturally and politically, for people who mess up to then try to do better. That doesn’t mean forgetting, but it does mean allowing room for growth. Forgiveness, when earned, is a part of healing.

It’s also part of building a functional democracy. Because if the only path after a misstep is permanent exile, where does that leave us? It doesn’t stop mistakes from happening. It just drives people further into their silos. It pushes them out of reach. That’s not a solution — it’s just another version of the problem.

We have to make changes. We have to do things that may be uncomfortable or that are counter to the zero-sum behaviors that have become all too acceptable in our political and communal spheres. We absolutely must hold the line against political violence, but we also have to keep the door open to transformation. That’s the harder work. But it’s the kind of work we’re going to need a lot more of.

Shannon Watson is founder and executive director of Majority in the Middle, a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization.