It would be nice if we could just take it for granted that censorship of ideas was a self-evidently bad idea and that no one would want to do it. However, that's not the world we live in. It's become less the world we live in. Part of that I think derives from social media and the growing intertwinement of technology and everyday life. Many a person born in or very near the 21st century can imagine doing anything with their life except being left alone to live it.
Anyway, this article does a pretty good job of disposing of arguments for limiting free speech. I especially appreciated the following passage:
The ones who enforce the rules are, by definition, powerful. In a country with strong protections for freedom of speech, the powerful are barred from using the legal system to attack the powerless for their speech. If you empower the government to censor, you are giving the powerful more power.
Oh, and that xkcd comic underneath is just wrong. People don't show you the door because they think you're an asshole. They think you're an asshole because they have the power to show you the door, they use it, and then they have to justify it to themselves. Projection makes the dirty business of oppression feel cleaner.
2 comments:
Good find. I agree with you and with the author's arguments in favor of free speech as how could I not? Mill’s trident provided a very astute summary about society's need to allow people to express uncensored opinions.
I wonder if I might be correct in wondering if debate is even encouraged in schools anymore? Considering all the general ostracizing that goes on in social media and institutions nowadays, often for little or no reason whatsoever, I have a feeling not. Without debate a person doesn't develop critical thinking skills or the ability to make reasoned arguments - never mind developing the skills of questioning the evidence before jumping to conclusions.
The writer's statement about group polarization cementing one's negative opinions is very apt and certainly agrees with your own observation that current censorship 'derives from social media and the growing intertwinement of technology and everyday life'.
I think it's really important that we learn to listen and show empathy for other people's beliefs in order that we may develop mutual understanding and acceptance. Or maybe that's too much to ask in these strange disjointed times.
I like what I know of Mill's trident. Especially the idea that even if your ideas are correct you still need to have them challenged or else you don't really know that you understand them. Quite a few people could do to remember that.
By debate I'm guessing you don't mean formal debate club but the everyday argument of ideas. That's a good question. From the little I've seen it looks like a great deal of the classes in public schools are in essence babysitting, where the teachers have given up on teaching. So if the tonier schools are choosing to indoctrinate, well, that's bad on top of bad.
Yeah, I mean, that's one of my hobbyhorses. Interacting with the rest of the world through screens tends to reduce other people to their stated opinions. Which wouldn't be so bad if more people liked to be challenged, but they don't. So it devolves into namecalling.
I hope that empathy isn't too much to ask, in these times or any other. It's necessary to at least try.
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