> It's got to the point where "free speech" has become a dog whistle for the alt-right.

Because pride parades and Occupy protests don't benefit from free speech at all, right?

It's more concerning to see the meme of "I don't like what these people say so I'm going to add the 'dogwhistle' tag to it so other Right Thinking people will know to avoid/condemn it without engaging properly".

Free speech is critical to the success (such as it is) of the United States today. Deciding to self-cripple because some small groups we don't like are using it is absurd.

Yes, taking back the concept of free speech is especially difficult, when you don't believe in it yourself.

Sounds like you're saying one particular group should control the concept of free speech at the expense of another group or groups.

That's not a new thing. The fascist Oswald Mosley complained about a lack of free speech when he was repeatedly prevented from speaking and marching in predominantly Jewish parts of London in the 30s by large violent crowds[1]. Post war there were very organised groups dedicated to disrupting fascist "free speech", like 43 Group which was made up of Jewish ex-servicemen[2]. Again in the 60s Mosley cited "free speech" when his fascist rallies were violently disrupted[3].

Fascists have been using "free speech" as a shield since the beginning, and similarly liberals were handwringing about the fascists right to "free speech" while fascists beat up and killed Jews and other minorities and burned down synagogs. The liberals were wrong in the 30s to tolerate fascism and they're wrong now.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cable_Street being the most famous example [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/43_Group [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRS4NR_BZ1w and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Ef3WYWJYc for example