Freedom of speech is the concept of being able to speak freely without censorship. It is often regarded as an integral concept in modern liberal democracies.
--Wikipedia
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I'm not really sure how to describe my feelings about the degree to which cancel culture has swept over the social media landscape like a tsunami. Some instances have been amusing, others appalling, some silly and some brutally frightening.
Someone sent me an email this past week or so. I'd mention his or her name but I'd hate to paint a target on his or her back.
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HERE are a few quotes I've run across that I thought you'd enjoy, especially as a victim of cancel culture.
Thomas Erskine on the advantages of Free Speech.
“When men can freely communicate their thoughts and their sufferings, real or imaginary, their passions spend themselves in air, like gunpowder scattered upon the surface; but pent up by terrors, they work unseen, burst forth in a moment, and destroy everything in their course.” (Rex v. Paine, 1792)
John Stuart Mills (On Liberty, 1859)
“If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”
Henry George (Progress and Poverty, 1879)
“The law of human progress, what is it but the moral law? Just as social adjustments promote justice, just as they acknowledge the equality of right between man and man, just as they insure to each the perfect liberty which is bounded only by the equal liberty of every other, must civilization advance. Just as they fail in this, must advancing civilization come to a halt and recede.”
Justice Holmes on the free exchange of ideas.
“The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas. The best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market. We should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death, unless they so imminently threaten immediate interference with the lawful and pressing purposes of the law that an immediate check is required to save the country.”
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To the above I will add one more, from the Oregon Constitution:
"No law shall be passed restraining the free expression of opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write or print freely on any subject whatever."
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Here's a Tweet I saw this morning.
Cancel culture is modern excommunication for today’s unrepentant heretics.
It doesn't take much effort to find others.
Lyn
The only thing that should be canceled is cancel culture itself. It's very unhealthy and counterproductive.
Brit Hume:
My alma mater has gone off the deep end.
A Medical Student Questioned Microaggressions. UVA Branded Him a Threat and Banned Him from Campus
https://reason.com/2021/04/07/microaggressions-uva-student-kieran-bhattacharya-threat/
Fran
cancel culture claims its newest victim... laying low for a while
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What I'm wondering is whether this current backlash against free speech is the fruit of those forces outlined in in Haidt & Lukianoff's The Coddling of the American Mind. C.S. Lewis once wrote, "The worst of all public dangers is the committee of public safety."
Related Links
Are Children Being Raised "Too Safe To Succeed"?
Bubble-Wrapped Americans: How the U.S. Became Obsessed with Physical and Emotional Safety
2 comments:
One of my favorite quotes:
"“At least we still have freedom of speech," I said.
And she said, "That isn't something somebody else gives you. That's something you give yourself.”"
-- Kurt Vonnegut, Hocus Pocus
Good one.
e.
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