Libertarians on Liberty’s Post now find it perfectly acceptable to pursue the tyrannical practice of blacklisting anyone whose words offend their delicate sensibilities. Unfortunately these narrow-minded individuals do not realize that the best remedy to validate their political ideology is to catechize remarks that disparage it by subjecting them to the crucible of open debate and rational inspection. Libertarians continually fail to show tolerance and adhere to cherished “libertarian” values while abdicating all confidence that their ideas will handily defeat opposition to their philosophy.
Libertarians propose the impossible and internally contradictory notion that they can support their cause with the angry suppression of free speech from anyone who speaks against them. They feel the remedy for comments and ideas they oppose is not the free and open debates of civil society, but a need to resort to Orwellian speech codes of an authoritarian dictatorship. Here, again, libertarians reveal their philosophy is a radical departure from a normal society and their unique iteration of fascism shares many of its historical and ideological roots.
Freedom of speech is arguably a most cherished value and the bedrock of a genuinely free society. The entire process of education and the freedom to challenge ideas is, and must be, predicated on unbridled freedom of speech and expression. Without this most cherished freedom, supporting and challenging ideas cannot be examined and assessed for their value and we will therefore live in a benighted world in which ideas are lost forever….flushed down the memory hole as too dangerous or offensive to the dainty sensibilities of libertarians who find these words offend them.
The validity of libertarian notions has been questioned and a morally consistent application of libertarian premises has been challenged in order to show why libertarians are mistaken about what their ideal requires. Libertarians generally defend the ideal of freedom from the perspective of how little one is constrained. Yet pragmatic criticisms of libertarianism now go unanswered because libertarians have moved to silence free speech. Sad, but so understandably predictable based on their rhetoric and actions.
Most of us aren’t defeated in one decisive battle. We are defeated in one tiny, seemingly insignificant surrender at a time that chips away at who we really should be.
Pathetic … 