Free To Disagree With Stupidity

A Recent Past Consideration of Freedom of Speech

Here’s a possible dialogue between huge blocks of people on the planet:

-“I think your beliefs are groundless and weird, and based on unseemly flights of fancy.”
-“I believe the same of you.”
-“Well, all right then, I hope the rest of your life pans out well.”
-“I agree, much luck to you.”

One love my friend.

You can’t mock Jesus. You would be messed up tout de suite by somebody.

There would be no terrorist network to track down. Just some insanely upset believer. After the fact, the only recourse would be to ask the people around him: (because it’s almost always a him) ‘what the fuck was that?’

It’s a formidable part of free speech, you can say what you want — that doesn’t mean you won’t get punched in the face by somebody.

But, if you kill someone because their belief mocks your belief, then you are a weak-minded goof.

That cuts both ways though. You can’t think that it’s okay for you to mock another’s convictions.

If we have learned nothing else through history, we have learned that firing up the passions of the extremely religious is foolhardy. All you end up doing is shining a light on a millennia’s old truth: People will do exceedingly deranged things in the name of religion.

Inciting anger does nothing to aid us in collectively moving forward as a species. If you are going to use satire, point it at the concepts or precepts; not at the things that only serve to unite against you the people you are trying to reach.

Don’t mock Mohammed. Extreme behaviour will inevitably attract extreme behaviour.

Think that a third to a quarter of the world’s population is Muslim. If there was an essential problem with this religion, we would be in even deeper shit than we are.

Why do things that piss off the vast majority of a group? Don’t mock Mohammed. Don’t mock Jesus. Let’s start by taking the nutters out of play.

Accept responsibility for freedom of speech. It’s a beautiful thing, but it has to be respected. Just because you can say something doesn’t mean you should.

You can’t mock Mohammed. And it’s not because it can’t be done, and it’s not out of fear, it’s because it’s stupidly disrespectful of freedom of speech.

We need to focus on that. That’s what we are protecting.

A Newer Consideration of Freedom of Speech

☞ The earth is not fucking flat.

☞ Asking questions is the lifeblood of intelligence.

☞ Just because you hear a thing does not make it true.

☞ Just because you see a thing does not make it true.

☞ Just because you say a thing does not make it true.

☞ Being free to question is the essence of freedom.

☞ Being punished for holding an opinion leads to colossal ignorance.

☞ It is okay to disagree, we do not see with the same eyes.

☞ With freedom of speech comes nonsense.

☞ With nonsense comes a responsibility to ask questions.

☞ The earth is not fucking flat.