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Tuesday, January 31, 2006 at 1:24 PM

Free Speech. Who's Speech? And Where Are They Keeping Him?

So I am in the middle of reading On Liberty by John Stuart Mill. Well, not really in the middle, more like at the beginning. Yes, it is another short book. But it takes longer to read, as it is a bit denser than your average novel. If you have the patience for Victorian phrasing, it's not too bad. If you give a damn about free speech, it's important to read. An interesting thing about his approach is that he considers government action as well as social censure. So far (I've just finished the Intro. and gotten into Ch. II), he basically points out that social customs are rather arbitrary. Because they vary so widely with time and culture, none of them can make claims of absoulute truth. This is why it is so important that everybody have thier say. It could be that the crazy guy on the corner is actually proclaiming the Truth with a big T. He might even be the only person on the planet with this insight. And if we suppress him, then we may be suppressing the progress of the whole race. Ah yes, I am feeling the well-spring of my UU upbringing just come gushing up.

By adriennelibrarian at 1:24 PM

Blogger Shaw Israel Izikson said...

Are you saying that you DON'T want to hear that crazy guy and what he's saying?

Sure, that's your choice. But he has a right to say it, just like you and I have the right to run quickly by him and throw snowballs at the dude.  

~

Blogger adriennelibrarian said...

Um, I think what I was saying is that he does have a right to say what he wants, no matter how crazy it might seem.  

~

Blogger Shaw Israel Izikson said...

so you feel the same way then eh? That's cool...  

~

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Amesterdam by Ian McEwan. See post for Aug. 31, 2005.

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. I guess you would say this is the story of a book, and all the people connected to it. It is well-crafted. Some very, very sad parts. I hardly ever read anything more than once. This is probably worth reading twice. Will I do that? Probably not. But it's good enough that I can conceive of doing that.

Why Gender Matters by Leonard Sax. This is some very interesting reading material. A little dry in parts, but he presents a compelling argument based on scientific research and not private musings and observations.

The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs by Alexander McCall Smith. How can you go wrong with a title like this? Actually, I listened to this as a book on tape. The narration and intonation was excellent. My stepfather read it and was not too impressed, so I would recomend listening to it.

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