America wasn't founded so that we could all be better. America was
founded so we could all be anything we damn well please.
(P.J. O'Rourke)
(This is obviously from an American perspective on free speech,
so for those with other perspectives, your kind indulgence is
appreciated.)
First, a heartfelt thank-you to Solderpunk for putting together the
circumlunar.space site and making resources available to all of us
sundogs in need of a place. The metaphor is indeed appropriate. We
and many others need a space away from the HTTP world that is
rapidly being filled with advertisements and turned into the new
Home Shopping Network and Cable TV Extravaganza.
Further, the idea taken from 'Schismatrix' of having an
ideologially decriminalized (to the extent possible) space online
is a significant one. Free speech is not an unalloyed good, it can
be used for bad ends and it can certainly be abused - but for all
that, I still believe that 'the solution to bad speech is more
speech'.
The truth is that making democracy work is hard and requires
ongoing courage from enough of the citizens to protect the minority
opinion, to protect the vulnerable from being crushed by the
majority or those with power and greed.
The Founding Fathers of the United States warned that it would be
hard.
The reality is that the only thing that will protect minorities,
LGBT, women, the handicapped, the misunderstood, the political
outcasts, and scapegoats, is all of us resolving that power will
not be abused and people will all have their inalienable rights
defended.
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are so much paper if the
majority of us are not willing to stand up for people we don't
like, people who are different from us, or people that maybe even
deserve punishment - and insist that they are treated fairly and
with dignity.
If we move too far away from the idea that your right to swing your
fist ends before it reaches my nose, or anyone's nose, then we're
in trouble. But similarly, if we're willing to prevent people from
swinging their fists around when it isn't hurting anyone we're
headed in a dangerous direction.
We have to be willing and able to deal with things that merely
offend us. The other fork in that path leads to the world of
'Fahrenheit 451' or a lot worse.
Back in the days when Usenet was the main online forum for
discussion, in addition to a variety of mailing lists (Majordomo!)
and bulletin boards still hanging on, there was the killfile. If
you couldn't deal with certain topics or posters you were able to -
and responsible for - not reading their input rather than engaging
in childish complaining about things you had every opportunity to
avoid reading. The expectation was that everyone was an adult and
could moderate their own behavior and be responsible.
Damnit, I miss that. Thanks again to Solderpunk for this space and
for having the guts to offer it to all of us sundogs. May we all
prove worthy of the gift.
