“ ‘I wholly disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it’ ” (Lippmann 14-15). Voltaire’s statement explains that even though he disagrees with an opinion, he will defend the entitlement of freedom of speech. In Walter Lippmann’s essay “The Indispensable Opposition,” his argument on freedom of speech is that American society should value and tolerate others opinions because it is necessary in a civilized society. Utilizing rhetorical strategies such as diction, parallelism, and the use of personal pronouns; he emphasizes his stance on liberty of opinion.
First, Lippmaan uses high level diction in order to clearly convey his argument in a familiar tone. For example, in line 10, he includes these words: “substantial,