- Joined
- May 1, 2021
Words are words and actions are actions. We've seemingly lost the plot on this concept. I can say anything I want, but that does not mean I can do anything I want. I should be allowed to think or say anything and everything because it is only through this virtue that we learn and grow and rise together. It is the sensationalism that is the issue, because despite the freedoms of expression, thought, and speech that we champion, our institutions and governance has gone a different direction and decided only certain speech is kosher or allowable.
Disallowing freedom of speech only serves to suppress and mitigate the exchange of ideas and opinions. There is no other way through which we may give and receive complete and concise ideas other than through speech (or writing). One might argue that art is a medium through which ideas may be exchanged, but art is often interpretative and individualistic in nature. If we suppress any speech too much, we risk forgetting as a collective why we suppressed such things in the first place. It gives rise to extremism when we force radical speech into a corner because they're left in an echo chamber of people who only agree. It is only by being able to openly share and discuss radical ideas that one may overcome their radicalisation or learn something new, especially something contrary to their beliefs and understandings.
Extremism doesn't come from nowhere and by and large, it dissipates rapidly when it is not acknowledged or entertained or suppressed. By excising certain opinions and ideas from the lexicon of human knowledge, we have forced individuals to either capitulate or further their own understandings through means that are not favorable to the outcome of our society's wellbeing. Likewise, by championing certain ideas and speech as incontrovertible truth, people have been forced to challenge their greater understanding of the world or get sucked into "the right side of history" by agreeing with said ideas and speech.
If I cannot freely express and have ordinate and civil discussions about why and how I think Jews run the world, for instance, then the only people who will hear me out are those who already share the same perspective. The rest want me dead for simply thinking that's a possibility, and I will be utterly convinced of this fact by the evidence that put me in that place to begin with.
Complete free speech is a good thing, and it is favorable on all sides. Words are not actions. The trouble is not the speech that we use, nor is it the opinions that we have: it is the institutions and governments selecting what is allowable and what isn't that has created this incredibly divisive climate around speech that we have today.
One cannot be convinced to do something they do not wish to do through speech alone. It takes action. It takes personal conviction and a perspective that must be brought on by more than just simple exchange of ideas and opinions. The problem now is that the actions of the elite, namely in the suppression of one form of speech while championing a mirror image of what they despise, that has caused speech to become a problem. It is because we all share a viewpoint wherein we are being controlled by the state that as soon as someone agrees, we go holy shit, I'm not the only one. On the flipside, those who agree with the current thing are unrelentingly justified and made heroes for doing the exact same things but with different words. Limiting free speech in the ways we're experiencing today is to protect the elite from a cogent and organized reprisal for the fact that things have been taken way too far.
Your ability to share information and opinions through speech is viewed as a threat to the public and the government, because it truly is becoming a credible threat to all of us. Those who are justified and vindicated by the powers that be have a license to harm anyone who doesn't align with the party lines. Those who are vilified have justification for their hatred of the system.
Speech is not harmful. It is the actions that follow which are the danger. Unfortunately we've all been pigeonholed into a position where free and open speech threatens us all, and I fear for the future of sharing ideas and opinions through speech, because every single one of us can find one reason or another why we believe certain types of speech should be limited or censored. I don't think any of it should be censored. I think we, as a collective, need to slow the hell down and try to understand the words we hear instead of latching on without question. Unfortunately, we are too far gone for that.
Disallowing freedom of speech only serves to suppress and mitigate the exchange of ideas and opinions. There is no other way through which we may give and receive complete and concise ideas other than through speech (or writing). One might argue that art is a medium through which ideas may be exchanged, but art is often interpretative and individualistic in nature. If we suppress any speech too much, we risk forgetting as a collective why we suppressed such things in the first place. It gives rise to extremism when we force radical speech into a corner because they're left in an echo chamber of people who only agree. It is only by being able to openly share and discuss radical ideas that one may overcome their radicalisation or learn something new, especially something contrary to their beliefs and understandings.
Extremism doesn't come from nowhere and by and large, it dissipates rapidly when it is not acknowledged or entertained or suppressed. By excising certain opinions and ideas from the lexicon of human knowledge, we have forced individuals to either capitulate or further their own understandings through means that are not favorable to the outcome of our society's wellbeing. Likewise, by championing certain ideas and speech as incontrovertible truth, people have been forced to challenge their greater understanding of the world or get sucked into "the right side of history" by agreeing with said ideas and speech.
If I cannot freely express and have ordinate and civil discussions about why and how I think Jews run the world, for instance, then the only people who will hear me out are those who already share the same perspective. The rest want me dead for simply thinking that's a possibility, and I will be utterly convinced of this fact by the evidence that put me in that place to begin with.
Complete free speech is a good thing, and it is favorable on all sides. Words are not actions. The trouble is not the speech that we use, nor is it the opinions that we have: it is the institutions and governments selecting what is allowable and what isn't that has created this incredibly divisive climate around speech that we have today.
One cannot be convinced to do something they do not wish to do through speech alone. It takes action. It takes personal conviction and a perspective that must be brought on by more than just simple exchange of ideas and opinions. The problem now is that the actions of the elite, namely in the suppression of one form of speech while championing a mirror image of what they despise, that has caused speech to become a problem. It is because we all share a viewpoint wherein we are being controlled by the state that as soon as someone agrees, we go holy shit, I'm not the only one. On the flipside, those who agree with the current thing are unrelentingly justified and made heroes for doing the exact same things but with different words. Limiting free speech in the ways we're experiencing today is to protect the elite from a cogent and organized reprisal for the fact that things have been taken way too far.
Your ability to share information and opinions through speech is viewed as a threat to the public and the government, because it truly is becoming a credible threat to all of us. Those who are justified and vindicated by the powers that be have a license to harm anyone who doesn't align with the party lines. Those who are vilified have justification for their hatred of the system.
Speech is not harmful. It is the actions that follow which are the danger. Unfortunately we've all been pigeonholed into a position where free and open speech threatens us all, and I fear for the future of sharing ideas and opinions through speech, because every single one of us can find one reason or another why we believe certain types of speech should be limited or censored. I don't think any of it should be censored. I think we, as a collective, need to slow the hell down and try to understand the words we hear instead of latching on without question. Unfortunately, we are too far gone for that.
