Disturbing, even Inaccurate, Speech Must be Protected
Washington Post | Thomas J. Balch
Thomas Balch argues, “Hearing opposition to one’s beliefs and actions is uncomfortable. It is disturbing to have to deal with challenges to the orthodoxy of whose truth one is convinced. But when we are ‘protected’ from challenges to what we think we know, our intellects stagnate in the bubble of agreed beliefs and assumed facts. To paraphrase John Stuart Mill, we risk preferring the life of a contented fool to the life of a dissatisfied Socrates.”
He explains that “the very fact of having to confront opposition and think through the merits and demerits of contrasting arguments can ultimately increase our understanding of the basis for their validity.”
The 1000+ comments ofter an insightful look into how freedom of speech is viewed among the readership.
