Contending With Error Is Necessary
The myth of dangerous ideas.
In his 1644 pamphlet titled Areopagitica, John Milton pointed out that knowledge can ONLY advance by means of free speech, written and spoken. Moreover, in order to get to the truth of any complex thing that we don’t yet fully understand, it is NECESSARY to contend with error. Indeed, one can’t even recognize an erroneous proposition unless one is allowed to talk about it with other people and debate its merits and defects.
Some of my Substack readers have occasionally asked me to censor reader comments that are rude, ugly, and false. The only time I have ever censored a reader comment or blocked a commentator is when I have suspected that the commentator is an agent provocateur who is trying to give the impression that our readership consists of bigoted people.
Why don’t I censor false, inflammatory, or hateful comments? Because I believe that any reasonable adult who reads our Substack can judge such comments for himself. I don’t need to protect my readers from any comments. They are free to discuss, debate, or simply ignore such comments.
The Censorship-Industrial Complex is based on the myth that adult citizens must be protected from erroneous ideas. Censorship has become the central project of what Thomas Sowell called “the Anointed”— that is, the self-appointed guardians of American society and politics.
The people who now work for this project are half-educated and stupid at best. Most of them are working in the service of aspiring tyrants who wish to expunge the US Constitution from the world.
Your words are encouraging, inspiring and reinforce my exact thoughts and beliefs on freedom of speech. Thank you. Without it an intelligent society will surely shrivel and die.
I agree with you on not censoring comments. We are too often treated like fragile children who must be protected from "dangerous" or "harmful" ideas, instead of adults who can assess and make their own minds up. And I love Thomas Sowell!