Sunday 5 March 2023

On the rise of "Free Speech Absolutism"

 That some "woke," like spoiled infants , get very nasty when disagreed with and want to curtail free speech in the name of protecting their feelings has, in my opnion encouraged a reaction that is extreme and myopic, the opposite error, if you will, which is the usual response to error in this fallen world.

Those reacting to "woke" censoriousness and oftime actual censorship  call themselves free speech purist or free speech absolutists.

But i submit that there is no such thing as total free speeech and neither should there be in a free society.

Does free speech permit libel and slander whereby  a reputation and thus a life can be destroyed by lies? I am not talking about "hurt feelings" here, but deliberate and malicious  character assassination.  So I would say to the so called self styled free speech purist that  if you are prepared to have your life wrecked by malicious lies, permitting it with good heart for it was  free speech, a fundamental principle your would die for, even if you suffered from it then you may  indeed be  a free speech purist. 

But if you have forgotten the distinction between hurting feelings and wrecking lives as explained above maybe your purism is based on ignorance.

And maybe you have simply reacted, not rationally responded,  to those "woke" babies  who themselves cannot tell the difference.

Let me give an example of what i mean.

So someone calls you an *sshole in debate. Fine!  Just brush it off. Only a spoiled brat like a "woke" would get petulant and want to destroy you because it hurt their feelings.

But what  if someone simply took a dislike to you? Assume   you were a tradesman or business owner, and this person destroyed your reputaiton, and your wife believed the lies, and you had a mortgage.

And you lost ALL OF THESE because no one would use your professional service nor buy your wares, your wife left you and the bank  foreclosed after you could no longer keep up the mortgage payments

and in the name of total free speech, being a free speech purist or free speech absolutist  you would be quite happy  with this?

there is far to much myopic ultra narrow focus in this issue.

total licentiousness of speech, a term i coin myself for i am not aware of it being used elsewhere, is no more permissiable  in this instance than when a person shouts "fire!!" in a crowded theatre

free speech has never been an absolute




No comments:

Post a Comment

You can disagree with me, even spiritedly. But keep it civil as I am the one hurt by cruelty. I must protect myself from nastiness and will block or ban users if I must. And it would help if you offered reasons for your disagreements. If they are good I may respect you. If they are sound I may even change my mind