One reason I broadly oppose governmental restrictions on the expression of ideas—even obviously bad, dangerous, and offensive ideas—is the phenomenon I call "censorship envy": The common reaction that, "If my neighbor gets to ban speech he reviles, why shouldn't I get to do the same?"
[1.] To offer one example, say a public university bans speech that expresses support for Hamas attack on civilians, and a court upholds that (perhaps on the theory that this supposedly creates a "hostile educational environment" for Jewish or Israeli students).
It seems to me quite likely, and psychologically understandable, that this will create an impetus for greater moves to ban other speech, such as support for Israeli retaliatory strikes against Hamas or other future attackers. Such a misplaced desire for equality of repression is a powerful mental force, and it's one way in which narrow speech restrictions can end up leading to broader ones.
