Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Free speech, Mercy, and Justice.

The old Jewish Kabbalist view of God has two balanced parts, Mercy and Justice.

Too much free speech is too much mercy. Justice requires that there be some way of delimiting good, valid, truthful speech from disrespectful, sick, or dishonest speech.

Censorship is a blunt tool. Social disapproval is as well. But perhaps they are better than nothing. We now lack any means whatever to separate the true from the false. Without a way for the good stuff to rise above the bad stuff, well, look around you.