free speech fails

free speech is a tool that is supposed to allow the free exchange of ideas to have the best ideas, judged on its merits, win 

what is known by its proponents is that free speech rests on the rule of law to protect speech from those who wish to censor it 

but free speech fails because [list]speech is not judged on its usefulness to preserving diversity
[*]like in all “free markets,” monopolies form and their power ends up suppressing other, conflicting speech. fascists, for example, don’t care about free speech/liberal democracy will use their freedom of speech to gain power and then outlaw free speech
[*]similarly, western society is not one that automatically promotes diversity: it is deeply racist, antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ, xenophobic, patriarchal/sexist, etc. 
[*]law enforcement (police), the ones who enact the “rule of law,” overwhelmingly support fascist policies and many are members of fascist organizations https://theintercept.com/2017/01/31/the-fbi-has-quietly-investigated-white-supremacist-infiltration-of-law-enforcement/ (USA focused)
[*]the police originated as strike-breakers in Europe and in the USA they were developed side-by-side as strike-breakers and slave-catchers [*]the fraternal order of police (a large, national collective of most police officers) openly support Donald Trump, a fascist 
[*]police will be very selective in what they enforce, leading to some speech (such as racist speech, sexist speech, Islamophobic speech, etc.) and even violence being left alone or supported by police officers. in addition, other speech (such as anti-racist speech, anti-sexist speech, anti-Islamophobia speech, etc.) ends up being suppressed by the fascists and the police who support the fascists 

with these challenges, the tool of free speech becomes inept and, in fact, becomes counter to the aims of promoting diversity. 
but what are we to do if not promote free speech?

what has become clear is that we need to understand society as being in conflict with itself. there are the fascists and there are the anti-fascists. there are those who own the businesses and there are the workers at those businesses. 

their interests are at odds with each other. the fascists want fascism; the anti-fascists do not want fascism. the business owners want to make as much money as possible. the workers want a living wage, job security, healthcare, the air and water to not be poisoning them, etc. 

these are some examples but there are countless, such as with race ((ex. white people as a group want to protect their power and privileges (white supremacy). people of color as a group want to end white supremacy.))

with this model we can understand who has more power and how to protect people more effectively than free-speech can  

for example:
[*]business owners have more power than an individual worker, and often more than collectives of workers (unions)
[*]white people have more power than people of color 

power is what allows people to get away with doing terrible acts–such as poisoning the water in Flint, Michigan or a non-disabled parent killing their disabled child

instead of promoting free speech to stop these abuses, we should instead take away the imbalance of power so that no one has more power than anyone else. 

we do this with solidarity/mutual-aid (helping each other out) and collective organizing, such as in a self-advocacy group. a good, accessible, longer guide to this kind of organizing is this guide to building a “solidarity network”