 What is the meaning of Fiss’s title?
What Professor Fiss has to say about it is worth attending to not merely because of his prominence in the field but because his argument is planted in the common assumptive ground of a lot of contemporary academic thought about the bankruptcy of individualism. This is what Fiss means by the "irony" in his title: that true freedom of speech for all requires suppressing the speech of some. If Fiss had addressed the subject of free speech in this spirit, as an irony, he would undoubtedly have had some interesting things to say, for he is a learned and temperate writer. Fiss does not avoid it. Fiss' analyses of specific cases are presented against a lightly sketched historical argument.
 It is ironic that free speech requires the silencing of a few small groups.
 It is ironic that free speech requires the suppression of debunked ideas.  It is ironic that the command, “Shut Up,” is paired with verb explain. This paradox is a metaphor for the way free speech works.  It is ironic that free speech can only be achieved via the hand of the state.  It is ironic that free speech requires the silencing of a few small groups.