Wednesday, December 11, 2002

[Colin Glassey 5 PM] Why the Left Wants to End Free Speech This is the sort of analysis which you don't run into very often. In this superb essay by Stephen Hicks (chairman of the philosophy department at Rockford College in Illinois) the author provides a detailed analysis of why the modern leftists support speech codes on college campuses, i.e. why does the left support censorship? Here is the key paragraph: [To the Postmodernists] there is no distinction between speech and action, a distinction that liberals have traditionally prized. According to postmodernists, speech is itself something that is powerful because it constructs who we are and underlies all of the actions that we engage in. And as a form of action, it can and does cause harm to other people. Liberals, say postmodernists, should accept that any form of harmful action must be constrained. Therefore, they [Liberals] must accept censorship. It is a brilliant essay and well worth the read but the bottom line is as follows: the Postmodernists are attacking free speech based on the following bedrocks: (1) they believe reason is socially constructed and is not a tool of knowing reality (2) they believe people do not have free will but instead are largely/entirely products of their social environments and (3) they want the world to be egalitarianism and altruistic instead of individualistic where people take responsibility for their own actions. I've certainly had moments when I supported censorship of some types of speech. I'm forced to admit that censorship of speech is incompatible with what I believe. I am not a postmodernist and I believe they are largely wrong about everything. Thanks to Armed Liberal for the link. 5:04:05 PM

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