Freedom of Expression is More Important than Dignity

I wrote a short post on why freedom of expression must and should always trump dignity.

Ideas can remain, locked in place as true or good, even if they are actually terrible ones, by virtue of being unchallenged, whether through ignorance or censoring alternative ideas. We do not want to believe something just because of “custom”: that is, it’s always been there or tradition. We all want to believe the right things, have access to and know the best ideas. This is so we can live the best kinds of lives.

But only we as individuals can decide what that means for ourselves. To do that requires engaging with all sorts of ideas: but to believe ideas only because of tradition, family or hearsay makes you no better than a slave since you are not believing them because you want to, but because someone or something else is telling you to. This happens with everyone, since we are not born with the ability to detect good ideas immediately. It is a lifelong activity. The act of engaging freely with ideas, though, is acknowledgement that one is a free individual, debating good and bad ideas. If you are not able to or simply refuse to scrutinise (all of your) ideas, then you are, as indicated, no better than a slave following orders.

Read the rest at WryRepublic.co.za.

Image Credit: John Marcotte/BadMouth.net