The world is currently trying to cancel Kanye West (and Kyrie Irving) for their recent anti-Semitic remarks. I will not defend what they said, but I will defend their right to say it. Though I do find it curious that a black man accuses Jewish people of taking advantage of black people in the music industry and the black man gets called a racist. Regardless, free speech includes racism, hate speech, and false information. Unless someone is calling for physical violence, they have a right to say whatever they want, right or wrong.
Those who support cancelation and censorship claim something to the effect of, “We need to ban spreaders of misinformation and hate speech because some people will believe them, then commit violence because of it.” But this is wrong on multiple levels. First, if you ban someone like Kanye West or Alex Jones for spreading conspiracy theories, then their followers will be more likely to believe their conspiracy theories are true. Banning them confirms the suspicion that the powers that be are trying to hide the truth. Second, you cannot blame someone for saying something that mentally-ill people might misinterpret and then commit violence in the name of. If so, many in the mainstream media would be liable as well.
If what a famous person with a large platform like Kanye West (or Alex Jones or Kyrie Irving or anyone else) says is false and potentially dangerous, then the way to deal with that is to have an open dialogue between Kanye and someone he knows and trusts who can explain how and why he is wrong—but they must do so in a non-combative way. The friend cannot simply lecture Kanye and tell him he's wrong, the friend needs to listen to Kanye and sincerely consider his claims (because Kanye's fans are). If Kanye is indeed wrong, then a true friend should be able to explain why and possibly change Kanye’s mind. Meanwhile Kanye’s fans can witness this and perhaps have their minds changed as well. But banning someone like Kanye West does not save his fans from his “dangerous misinformation,” it will only make them trust Kanye more and distrust the mainstream further.
If nobody is able to have a dialogue with a conspiracist and explain convincingly why the theory is wrong, then maybe the conspiracy theory is right. “Maybe” is the key word because many conspiracy theories lay in a gray area, where they cannot be proven nor disproven. It is that quality that makes conspiracy theories so enticing. It is also that quality of uncertainty that makes free speech essential.
The only sensible way to deal with conspiracy theories is to let them all spread. Some will sound absurd, and assuredly most will be false, but some of the absurd-sounding theories will be true. A pedophile ring run by a government intelligence agency sounded like insane dangerous misinformation that should be banned—yet it was true. Conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones called this out years ago while the “respectable” ABC News buried the report. Censoring the Jeffrey Epstein story caused much more harm (to the underage women Epstein continued to traffic) than the Pizzagate conspiracy theorists.
As for Kanye West’s conspiracy theories about the Jews in the music industry, I do not know enough about that to comment either way. It may sound absurd and offensive at face value, just like the Epstein story did, so most in the mainstream were quick to denounce it and Kanye without really exploring his claims. Almost all reports about Kanye (and Kyrie) state that they made anti-Semitic remarks that have been debunked, but the media does not explain what those remarks were nor how they were debunked. That is enough to convince those who trust the mainstream media, but these tactics of cancellation and censorship will not sway their fans who are already skeptical of the media. The only way to end misinformation and false conspiracies is with truth. And the only way to find truth is through free speech and open dialogue.
