if we can't think and say what what we
want how we're going to understand the
nature of reality and the way the world
works without communications and without
that then all other rights that you know
the right to worship religiously or the
right to assemble and the right to
debate and dispute and criticize the
government and you know then all the
others that fall from that civil rights
women's rights gay rights animal rights
and so on all of it depends on us
understanding the nature of reality and
that it depends on us communicating and
the reason for that comes straight out
of cognitive psychology that is we are
wrong about so much of what we believe
that the only way to find out if if
you're on the right track or you've gone
off the rails is to actually talk to
other people even if you're completely
right by listening to what somebody else
says you have an opportunity to
strengthen your own position as John
Stuart Mill said in his foundational
text 1859 on Liberty he who knows only
his own position doesn't even know that
so for example most of my students that
I teach her they're pretty liberal
they're pro-choice on the abortion issue
but when I asked them to articulate the
pro-life position which you know over
half of Americans take you know they
mostly can't do it so I tell them that
you don't really understand pro-choice
arguments if you don't understand the
pro-life arguments you got to have both
sides right so even if you're even if
the pro-choice position is absolutely
the right one you're still not really
understanding it until you understand
the other side then there's the fact
that you might be wrong partially wrong
or completely wrong and again the only
way to find out is by listening to what
other people say and then there's the
right not just of the speaker to speak
but of the listeners to listen so when
protesters shut down talks at say
colleges and universities when a
conservative comes to speak it's not
just the right of the speaker to speak
or you know the administrators or deans
who brought that person in
but the audience there there might be a
lot of students that want to hear what
this person has to say and even if they
are completely liberal and totally
opposed to this conservatives ideas they
still have a right to hear if they want
to and so when protesters get these
speakers D platform that is they're not
even allowed to speak they don't even
come to campus or if they do come and
they try to speak and then they're
shouted down it's called the hecklers
veto that's violating the rights of
listeners not just the speaker's right
I'll tell you how far I go in defending
free speech I would defend the free
speech of Holocaust deniers my example
of this is David Irving who is the most
prominent of the Holocaust deniers I've
known him a long time since the 1990s
he's definitely the smartest of the
bunch and and I think he's absolutely
wrong and I've confronted him with what
I think why he I think he's wrong and
and as it is apparent in his trial he's
also pretty anti-semitic or at least he
lies for Hitler but that's beside the
point
the the idea that he went to Austria to
give a talk and was arrested at the
airport
you know they scan your passport and the
name pops up and they you know call the
the police and they come and arrest him
and he was tried and then convicted and
put in jail and he didn't even give a
speech he was just thinking about giving
a speech that so that is the very
definition of a thought crime do we
really want to go down that road I mean
that's what countries like North Korea
do that's what like Soviet the Soviet
Union did under Stalin you know arrest
people for Thought crimes this is a
terrible way to go and I even went so
far as to write a letter to the judge in
that case on behalf of David Irving even
though I completely disagree with him
because I just find this abhorrent it's
like in some countries you can't
purchase mine kampf are you kidding me
I mean this this book should be widely
read even it's a terrible read it's
really boring
it's pedantic and rambling and
anti-semitic to the core but if we don't
understand why people think the way they
do we're never going to be able to do
and discrimination and hate hatred
bigotry racism and a cemented semitism
and so on that's the only way to do it
expose it for the error erroneous idea
that it is and then move on get smarter
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