I was a free speech absolutist like you are describing until I realized that my belief was based on the fear of a “slippery slope” developing from limiting any

I was a free speech absolutist like you are describing until I realized that my belief was based on the fear of a “slippery slope” developing from limiting any kind of “hate speech.” I’m older now and I’ve recognized that a slippery slope argument is a weak minds way of coping with difficult ideas. It takes an approach that only considers one way travel when it comes to the destination or rather conclusion. There are too many possibilities to allow the the possibility of a “slippery slope” to guide our decisions. I have always viewed the ACLUs defense of nazis as being this kind of behavior as well, to prevent further erosions down the road that are being viewed as an inevitable conclusion to limiting speech to any degree. I would say the other reason my views on freee speech have evolved because I now see “hate” as a virus of the mind and it is easily spread through the internet in the most deceitful and cunning ways, leading to destruction and violence toward the person or people it is directed at.