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You know when you are hanging out with friends, goofing around, making bad jokes, and someone makes a joke that's a little too crude? They just cross that line from what's OK to what's not. Usually you don't know where the line is until someone has crossed it. Some of my friends like to pole vault over the line.
Today, I pulled out my handy copy of On Liberty by John Stuart Mill. Well, I fondled my copy of The Subjection of Women first, but then I pulled down On Liberty:
After reading lots of random parts of Strikethrough2007, I saw the same thing over and over, especially from the fandom people seeking to have their beloved slash communities restored: "Yes, by all means, get rid of them – those monsters and pedophiles – but leave us innocents alone!"
Freedom of speech means that people can say horrible, weird, and outrageous things. People can say that the world is being run by reptile-alien creatures. People can create art dedicated to fictional incest (the link is not work safe). And they can say that well documented historical events never happened. And, if we want, we can all shake our heads: "Too far, man; too far. You've crossed the line."
And, maybe, once in a while, one of those outrageous things doesn't sound so insane after all. And we won't know unless we let people say anything they want, over and over, so our society can say "no way" or "maybe" or "yes!"
This isn't a tidy or easy process; it's messy and sometimes ugly. We have to hear and condemn hate speech. We have to hear and condemn people who say that it is OK to hurt innocents. The only time we should forbid speech is if we can prove that the words themselves are harmful or show clear intent to harm, such as with instructions on how to harm people and with threats.
Free speech only works if no one is silenced – not even the monsters.
*Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. Penguin Books Ltd., 1974. Page 76.
Today, I pulled out my handy copy of On Liberty by John Stuart Mill. Well, I fondled my copy of The Subjection of Women first, but then I pulled down On Liberty:
If all mankind minus one were of one 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. ... But the particular evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race, posterity as well as the existing generation – those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth; if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth produced by its collision with error.*
After reading lots of random parts of Strikethrough2007, I saw the same thing over and over, especially from the fandom people seeking to have their beloved slash communities restored: "Yes, by all means, get rid of them – those monsters and pedophiles – but leave us innocents alone!"
Freedom of speech means that people can say horrible, weird, and outrageous things. People can say that the world is being run by reptile-alien creatures. People can create art dedicated to fictional incest (the link is not work safe). And they can say that well documented historical events never happened. And, if we want, we can all shake our heads: "Too far, man; too far. You've crossed the line."
And, maybe, once in a while, one of those outrageous things doesn't sound so insane after all. And we won't know unless we let people say anything they want, over and over, so our society can say "no way" or "maybe" or "yes!"
This isn't a tidy or easy process; it's messy and sometimes ugly. We have to hear and condemn hate speech. We have to hear and condemn people who say that it is OK to hurt innocents. The only time we should forbid speech is if we can prove that the words themselves are harmful or show clear intent to harm, such as with instructions on how to harm people and with threats.
Free speech only works if no one is silenced – not even the monsters.
*Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. Penguin Books Ltd., 1974. Page 76.
