Moral grandstanding as a threat to free speech

Moral grandstanding, or the use of moral talk for self-promotion, is a threat to free expression. When grandstanding is introduced in a public forum, several ideals of free expression are less likely to be realized. Popular views are less likely to be challenged, people are less free to entertain heterodox ideas, and the cost of changing one’s mind goes up. People contribute to public discourse for many reasons. Some are more morally laudable than others. This essay is about one less laudable form of contribution to public discourse—moral grandstanding—and its conflict with more laudable forms. In our view, moral grandstanding, or the use of moral talk for self-promotion, is a threat to free expression. When grandstanding is introduced in a public forum, popular views are less likely to be challenged, people are less free to entertain new and heterodox ideas, and the cost of changing one’s mind goes up. We’ll begin by giving a brief account of what moral grandstanding is and why people do it. Next, we’ll describe what forms we should expect grandstanding to take—in other words, how people often behave in public discourse when they are grandstanding. Having presented our account of grandstanding, we will then argue that it interferes with free expression in important ways.