Free Speech and Substack - My Opinion
I know no one asked me, and that's the beauty of online publishing. I can still express my views. Let's keep it that way.
I now solemnly declare myself a free speech absolutist, and I shall willingly suffer the consequences of my choice. The alternative is hell!
There’s been a lot of debate regarding free speech and its limits as of late. Substack’s full of petitions and substackers demanding action or inaction from the founders, who seem to take a very light approach to free speech.
I commend them for it. My respect for not bending the knee to whinny, censuring, cancel-culture believers is unending. Most people and institutions have failed this basic test in the last few years.
I must add, though, that I believe the company can decide for itself which values it upholds. Including supporting free speech at the price of some hurt feelings or censorship, should they choose to play God and suppress the voices they dislike. I guess I still believe that the market will reward or punish them accordingly. Capitalism, right?
This is the way! The way of the free world.
Fuck the tyrants! Fuck cancel culture! Fuck hurt feelings! Fuck censorship! Fuck people thinking they can determine what others can think, read, say, or write!
If you don’t like something, look away.
If you think something is illegal, call the cops.
If you don’t like what someone says, stop reading or listening to them.
If you find it problematic, provide a counterargument, debate them, and point out the error in their way.
Silencing the people you don’t like is not the right approach.
It never has been. It never will be. It’s a sign of weakness. Weakness of character, beliefs, or arguments.
I’ve lived through socialism and communism, where people were hunted and prosecuted for their beliefs, religious, philosophical, or political. It’s not a good place to live, friends. You don’t want that.
I’ve lived through the Covid-19 tyranie, where people were censured and lost their jobs, businesses, and reputations for disagreeing with the main narrative, even though by now, it’s more than evident there were good reasons for it. You don’t want that.
I’ve lived in a religious cult of sorts, where reading, watching, or fraternizing with people of a different belief was considered a sin and a reason for public shaming and expulsion, even from your own family. Most of history lived under some sort of religious rule, where questioning the narrative, especially with science, was forbidden. You don’t want that!
You may think you can choose what gets banned, but you cannot! Sure, we would be better off without certain ideas and people as a society. But this is a slippery slope. Sooner or later, they will come for you. They always do. Censuring people and enforcing your own beliefs is a powerful drug. One, the people with this power never give back!
But the Nazis!
How the hell are Nazis still a thing, is beyond me. Or rather, it’s not, as everyone gets called a Nazie these days. Everyone you disagree with and want to censure that is. It’s a simple label that even the historically inept understand. Nazie = bad, evil, must be destroyed. We all know the symbolism.
Nowadays, if you don’t like what someone says or believes, you simply label them a Nazie, and they’re done for. Like the “pagan” of the old days, “commie” of the sixties, “infidel” in the Middle East, “anti-vaxer” of the 2020s,... you get the picture.
When you can label someone with a universally bad label, your job is done. No, you don’t need to prove your claims. No, you don’t need to debate them. No, you don’t need to prove them wrong. You just label, cancel, and be done with. It’s the easiest thing in the world. And also the wrong one!
One of the best things about the West and our values of freedom and democracy is the ability for everyone to think for themselves and express their views, opinions, and beliefs. However crazy they may be from our point of view. If we give that up, we’re going backward, not forwards in time!
PS: I had not come across any Nazies on Substack. But I was surprised just how strong anti-semitism is in this world. Like shocked! It’s not being spread from the likes of Nacional Socialists (Nazies), though, but students, scholars, protesters, and hippies. You know… common left-leaning folk, for some reason that no one can explain. Sometimes, seeing people for who they really are, beyond labels, can be a frightening affair. It paints a future I was hoping would never return.
I don’t care what your beliefs are, who you are, or if you’re right or wrong in some objective manner.
From my point of view, you have the right to think and express whatever the hell you like. Even if it’s batshit crazy.
You believe in Santa? Good for you.
You got abducted by anal-probing aliens. I’m sorry for your suffering.
We never went to the Moon, and the Moon is a hollow space station. Sure, darling (but off the record, tell me more; just let me put on my tin foil hat first).
I probably disagree with the vast majority of people out there, which is why I’m more oriented to allowing for freedom from compulsion, social pressures, conformity, narrative, or “normal.” I don’t succumb to social pressure, go with the masses, or bow down to groupthink. As such, I’m more sensitive to many pressuring the few.
The simple fact is that we can never agree on everything.
Hell, most of us can’t agree on the basics, and that’s just fine. Live and let live, remember? Guess what all people didn't agree on (the mainstream version that censured others) in the past:
That women should have equal rights.
That black people in America and Europe should have equal rights.
That gays should even exist.
That alternative (to the primary) religion should be allowed, and people can worship whomever they choose.
That people should be able to vote for their leaders. That women should vote, work, study, file for a divorce.
That intellectuals should be allowed to think and express themselves against the socialist and communist ideals.
That religion and government should be separated.
That the Earth revolves around the Sun, is round, and you won’t fall off the end if you sail too far out.
That enslaved people should be freed.
That countries should be able to self-govern.
How many of these ideals or mainstream narratives do you agree with today?
Not many, I would assume or hope. Me neither. Not so long ago, you would be the fringe minority with an illegal opinion! There was a beating waiting for such creative thinkers, not a job, education, or publishing rights!
The difference between you and me is that I don’t agree with many of today's narratives either, so I choose to argue for the dissident voices—even the ones I don’t like.
The truth is rarely what everyone believes at the moment.
The majority is seldom right, and there is absolutely no progress there. If we shut down anyone thinking differently, we’ve already lost everything we’ve built.
From my point of view, when I look at the opinions and standards that are most widely accepted in the world today, I see only madness! But then I’m fully aware that I entertain some far-out ideas myself. And that’s all okay.
It’s like looking at everyone, knowing that the world is round, and seeing them censure everyone who believes this simply observable fact. Imagine a world where “flat earthers” rule the day, and no one is allowed or incentivized to prove them wrong for fear of prosecution, job loss, expulsion, or imprisonment. For some free thinkers, this is what the “normie” world looks like most of the time, regardless of the era we speak of.
Allow people to be who they are. Yes.
Allow people who consensually sleep with whom they like. Yes.
Allow people to believe whatever the hell they want. Yes.
Allow people to talk about their ideas, even when you find them absurd, idiotic, dangerous, and cruel. Yes.
Allow people to pretend to be someone they’re not. Sure, whatever tickles their bone, just not in front of my kids, please. Adolescence is confusing and hard enough as it is.
As soon as we start playing the censorship game, the extremists will take over the narrative, and we will all suffer. These are facts that history has taught us over and over again. Let us learn for a change and not repeat past mistakes.
But they’re evil and are inciting violence!
If they’re doing something illegal or immoral, it’s better that they are in the light instead of hiding in the dark corners. This makes them easy to recognize and catch, doesn’t it?
If they’re not doing anything illegal, then you’re just not agreeing with their opinions, darling. I vehemently disagree with most publicly accepted beliefs. So, should I now demand they all be silenced? Is my view the only real one, the righteous one? No.
Do you know why I don’t have a problem with people I disagree with?
Because it’s none of my business, and neither is it yours. I am wise enough to know that I don’t know anything in the grand scheme of things. People calling for censorship and squashing different beliefs don’t have that wisdom. They think that they know what is best for everyone. They believe they can read minds. Spoiler alert - they don’t!
They also don’t believe that arguments can win in an open debate and that people will be able to choose for themselves what to believe and support. So they must do it for them. I get it with kids, but not with adults. It’s a sign of weakness and fear, not strength and wisdom. It’s also a sign of self-righteousness and believing yourself to be more than others. You’re not, and neither am I. So let’s allow each other to believe whatever the hell we want and express it freely.
I, too, find so many ideas destructive, dangerous, and insane in today's world.
Most of these ideas are being propagated by governments, media, and “the people” at large. I wish they would change and see the error in their ways. As I’m sure you would for those you disagree with. But I can’t make them, nor do I have any right to.
The simple fact is that we will all have to reap what we sow and that our beliefs govern our life experiences. Far more than most are aware. If we are wrong in our beliefs, chances are that we’ll have to face the consequences sooner or later. The problems arise when we impose the consequences of our beliefs onto others. Then others suffer because of us. Our rights end when they violate the rights of others.
Let’s focus on ourselves first.
Let’s not impose our will on others and prevent them from expressing their views. One, we could be wrong, and two, even if we’re right, our way might not be right for everyone. Live and let live. Read and write what you want, and allow the same privilege to others. Especially the ones you disagree with. You don’t have to agree with them or even read their nonsense.
Ignore, block, mute at your pleasure. But don’t prevent others from access to them.