Brendan O'Neil's intention

Brendan O’Neil’s intention when delivering the speech “Freedom of Speech and Right to Offend” was to persuade the audience of the necessity of preserving the right to offend as an instrument of free speech and to criticise recent developments in universities which tend to hinder freedom of speech and the right to offend.

The author’s intention to convince the audience of the necessity of the right to offend in the academic environment is suggested through the passion with which he describes this right as being the basis of social evolution:

Humans have long had the urge to offend against the natural order, the religious order, the moral order – and in the process, they have pushed humanity forward. In fact, pretty much every leap forward in history, pretty much every freedom we enjoy, is a product of individuals having given offense… (ll. 27-29)

Another way in which his intention becomes even more obvious is his metaphorical description of the right to offend: “…it is the heart and soul and lungs of freedom of speech. It is the coursing lifeblood of human progress. It is the instigator ...