And you should, too.
Do not fear the existence of opinions different from your own. Do not destroy those who think differently than you do and who dare make their opinions known. Do not make the world a miserable and uninteresting place by insisting on crushing sameness. In summary, don’t be a petty, unimaginative douche about speech and ideas not to your liking, especially when you’re not compelled to partake of these.
We should rejoice those myriad opinions are allowed to exist unmolested, because this ensures our own freedom and, in fact, exemplifies and enshrines it. It’s only the physical manifestation of opinions that may be of concern, possibly requiring our collective action, for or against, via the legislative or other formal process.
Odious speech is what needs protection. Speech about things we generally agree upon doesn’t. Speech that is racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, or otherwise deemed offensive to an aggrieved party, is the very thing free speech is meant to protect. Do not justify censorship by claiming speech you don’t like is the equivalent of physical “violence” or creating an “unsafe” space. Such excuses make the censor appear weak—because the person is weak, unable to abide a discordant thought or utterance.
Yes, good manners are important, more so in some places than others. But this doesn’t justify tyranny everywhere under the guise of enforcing propriety everywhere. At school and work, minimum levels of decorum are necessary so these places can function. A person who must be there as an employee or student can’t escape impoliteness or bad manners. Other places such as the Internet should be a virtual (literally…virtual) Thunderdome, and here we must be free to pick our poison—or lack of it—as we choose. We must act like adults and understand this crucial distinction. We must defend the right to free speech, which is a basic right every human being must possess.
Only a psychopathic-level narcissist believes the entire Internet must be to his liking at all times, past and present. If you don’t like what is said on an Internet site, don’t go there. If you don’t like the comments posted on your social media sites, deactivate the comment section or restrict it to friends and family—or ignore the comments.
We sure as hell don’t need more stories about a narcissist complaining that a naughty comment was posted on his site—and the miscreant subsequently hunted down and demolished. That such nonsense regularly becomes a widely disseminated “news story” does not reveal our new-found enlightenment; it shows we have far-too-easy lives and lack any sense of proportion. Bottom line: Don’t be a fascist and dictate what others say or do when they’re on their own time. If you’ve an activated comment section, don’t childishly expect every goddamn comment be positive and indulgent. Such an expectation is childishly unrealistic. Trust me, if the comment sections were nothing but fluff and happy-slappy shit, they wouldn’t be worth reading. It’s certainly nice to receive positive comments. But sacchariney comments from simps are nauseating and not enlightening or otherwise interesting.
Recognize that the existence of odious opinions prove that we are free. The lack of them proves not that we’ve achieved utopia, but that we live under a staggering tyranny, because only ruthless totalitarianism can make this so.
It’s okay to think another person’s point of view is dumb or disgusting and tell him so. I do it in regard to the Woke and others who disagree with me. The temptation—and one the Woke yield to ceaselessly—is to extirpate opinions we don’t like under the guise these are dangerous things and mustn’t be allowed to exist. The Woke also foolishly believe censoring others reveals to the world their own goodness and purity of heart. It does no such thing. It reveals them as the fascists they truly are.
Accusations of “hate speech” are tossed around with childish insouciance. There’s no such thing as hate speech, there’s just speech. Hate speech is speech that an overly delicate wussy doesn’t like. We also hear hysterical justifications such as “words are violence” and “silence is violence.” The latter is particularly Wokeish in that not only must you be free of opinions contrary to Woke ideology, but you must fully espouse their nonsense as well. Thus, we have the farce in which not harming people of another race is not good enough; we must declare ourselves “anti-racist,” a comically inane term that serves zero purpose other than cheap sanctimony for the empty-headed. These are the same people who by their own dunderheadedness cause tremendous harm to non-White communities—and intend further harm.
I wonder if requiring each of us avow ourselves as “anti-murder” would drop the murder rate to zero. I probably shouldn’t offer up this snark. The Woke might add this declaration to job interviews or college applications or have kindergarteners recite it as a North Korean-style class exercise—and they’ll do so believing it’s world-improving, when all it is freedom-destroying and more likely to result in genocide rather than an individual criminal thinking twice before pulling the trigger. Mindless platitudes such as “anti-racist” are for fools who can’t think for themselves.
Different opinions make the world an interesting place. I’ll take blasphemy or other irreverence over mind-numbing pablum any day of the week. Different opinions provide the rigor necessary to strengthen our own notions. Consider it philosophical hormesis, regardless of the dose. Perhaps hearing what others have to say leads to the modification or elaboration of your beliefs. Maybe you’re convinced to change your opinion entirely and embrace a new one. Maybe the other opinion is so outrageously insane that it provides entertainment value.
Regardless, an opinion different from your own should not leave you prostrate or otherwise unable to go about your daily life. I’ve never felt so weak that I can’t bear the existence of other opinions, including those I don’t have to indulge. You shouldn’t either. We do not have the right to prevent the existence of an opinion. We only have the right to interfere in the physical manifestation of opinions, either for or against.
I regularly watch The Jimmy Dore Show on YouTube. He is very left-wing in the classical sense, not the Woke sense. In particular, he is intellectually honest and a huge supporter of free speech. Therefore, he’s an oddity, especially among so-called Liberals who’ve become avid demanders of censorship. He holds his “own side” to the fire and points out their deliberate or inadvertent failings, gaslighting, inconsistencies, and incompetency. I, too, believe it’s important to apply scrutiny to one’s “own side” as well as to those you disagree with, perhaps more so with your side, since as any grifter knows, the easy mark is one who believes he’s found a kindred spirit.
I agree with him on some issues, disagree on others. He got me thinking about issues that I gave little thought of before but should’ve.
Mr. Dore is a big supporter of government-provided universal healthcare; specifically, Medicare expanded to cover everyone. I agree the current healthcare system is an unsustainable mess. There is deliberate conniving by the medical-industrial complex in order to gin up prices and maintain the status quo. The fact our elected officials previously passed a law prohibiting Medicare from negotiating drug prices shows how completely beholden they are to the medical-industrial complex rather than looking out for the best interests of the general citizenry. (The 2022 Orwellian-named Inflation Reduction Act now allows the government to negotiate prices for a smattering of Medicare-covered drugs—phased-in over a ridiculously lengthy teething period—and about which President Joe Biden inanely crowed, “We beat Big Pharma!” He did no such thing.).
The debate regarding healthcare continues to be over the role of government. But citizens have their role to play in lowering health care costs, and they do so poorly. Poor lifestyle choices greatly increase the demand for medical resources: obesity, poor diet, drug use, lack of exercise, smoking, risky behavior, etc. Any healthcare system is unstainable unless significantly more Americans adopt healthier lifestyles.
Whether it’s Medicare-for-All, as Mr. Dore suggests, or some other solution, the current mishmash of a system is doomed. I can offer advice on greatly lowering costs (i.e., healthy behaviors), but I don’t have a ready suggestion on what should replace the current system. Perhaps, Mr. Dore is right that Medicare-for-All is the solution. I’m open to listening.
I believe in enforcing our immigration laws. He is critical of this but hasn’t explicitly stated he wants open borders. He wants student debt forgiven and a universal basic income (UBI) adopted.
The issue isn’t student debt, per se, as much as it is the student-debt-industrial complex which exists to perpetuate it, like a drug dealer. A drug dealer supplied with fentanyl, whose product is underwritten by the cops. It encourages people who don’t belong in college to go there. By creating an artificial demand for college, it raises the costs. It enables degrees to be earned that provide no realistic means to pay off the loan. It allows students to incur unpayable levels of debt. Most insidiously, this debt cannot be discharged in bankruptcy like other debts—a corrupt deal made between our elected leaders and the lending vultures. The government backstops the loans, so lenders behave no more responsibly than an eighteen-year-old fresh out of high school and signing up for his first hit of education financing. This is moral hazard writ huge. Allowing these loans to be dealt with like other debt in bankruptcy and requiring the lenders fully face the risk of defaults would by itself greatly improve the situation.
A UBI would be madness. There’s no way to pay for it. We already borrow and print too much money. Better the economy be geared to more evenly share wealth than the currently system which exists to disproportionately transfer wealth upwards to the oligarchs (which I do agree with him is a big problem). He believes the oligarchs are a threat to society. I believe they’re a threat to free market capitalism, and it is the destruction of capitalism which threatens society. This shows that differences of opinion can lead to commonality in the end.
I agree with him on free speech absolutism and that Wall Steet and the donor class are running our country into the ground. The fact our elected officials leave Washington, D.C., far richer than when they first arrived is an obvious red flag that something nefarious is afoot there. Many of them grow rich by engaging in insider trading in the stock market—a practice illegal for the peasants.
Mr. Dore has changed my mind or at least opened it up to other possibilities regarding Russiagate, COVID, the Syria “chemical” attack, Julian Assange, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He definitely has me thinking about the insane amount of treasure we spend on foreign military adventures and this week’s enemy du jour. On several of his podcasts, he showed President Eisenhower’s speech about the military-industrial complex. This speech should be required viewing in schools. Here’s an idea: Require every American view this speech when they renew their driver’s license. I agree with him that viable alternative political parties are needed, as both major parties serve our financial and other overlords—and engage in kabuki theater to keep us deceived and divided. The Democrat and Republican elites both work to suppress the viability of any alternative political parties.
I disagree with him about global warming and believe the Green New Deal is another contrivance to control us and transfer wealth upwards, but I believe he’d listen and not want me censored for my views.
If I were president, I’d want Jimmy Dore as one of my advisors, so I can keep abreast of the opinions held by the “other side” in an intellectually honest way. Whether or not I agreed with him regarding an issue, it would be helpful to hear what his has to say. He’d be my consigliere for the left side of things. The true left.
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