Platform Everyone

It seems a day cannot go by without some fit of pique over a person who spoke out, who used his right to speak to say something that other folks do not want to be heard, and instead of not listening they try to censor his words. They cry out loud: ‘That’s hateful,’ No matter what you say, they’ll declare almost anything to make you go away. Free speech is not a thing to them, expression matters not, power means more than principle, they’ve all succumbed to that rot. But just because they are too weak to deal with difference, does not mean we should self-censor to somehow placate them. Such people won’t be satisfied, they demonize their own if they stray a bit out of line, they’ll cost them job or home. Small bits of power aren’t enough, give them one hit, they’ll want more, show weakness and they’ll double down, you’ll always be abhorred. It’s something right out of Orwell, these socialist witch hunts, so instead of appeasing them, I say platform everyone! The right, the left, the center too, the up, down, south, and north, we need to hear all points-of-view, evaluate their worth. We need all these ideas to clash, we need steel to sharpen steel, so the weak ones will fall away, in favor of the real. And we need this churn constantly to adapt to endless change, the arguments on what still works shows where things need to change. All those who would stop this process should be called out strongly, we’ve all seen ‘one idea’ nations, they just end horribly. The Soviets and the Fascists, and Islamist Iran, the lack of free expression leaves entire cultures damned. Those who suppress differing views and claim it’s ‘compassion’ are tyrants with a smiling face, who would see freedom undone. I say platform everybody, give all viewpoints their time, human beings are able to judge and make up their minds. And if you cannot handle it, if it drives you ’round the bend, then there’s a way to handle that: Simply choose to not listen.