Socrates was Right

 Socrates said "The misuse of language induces evil in the soul.   

As an author, I take great pains in trying to choose the right words, not just in the since of grammar or finding words that are technically correct.  As author Ursula K. Le Guin described it, "A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it.  Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight."

This blog is not about an author's responsibility with words, however.  Rather, it is about the importance of the right of free speech and the abuse of that right.  On March 18, 2022, the New York Times published an editorial titled "America Has a Free Speech Problem."  The link to the full article can be found at the bottom of this blog.  The opening paragraph stated, "Americans are losing hold of a fundamental right as citizens of a free country:  the right to speak their minds and voice their opinions in public without fear of being shamed or shunned."  

I have blogged about this subject previously, but the editorial offers some important insight.  For example, "If people feel free to express their views in their communities, the democratic process can respond to and resolve competing ideas.  Ideas that go unchallenged by opposing views risk becoming weak and brittle rather than being strengthened by tough scrutiny.  When speech is stifled or when dissenters are shut out of public discourse, a society also loses its ability to resolve conflict..."  

Included in the editorial are results of a survey in which the Times joined with Siena College to gain data about, among other things, whether people feel less free to talk about politics than they had a decade ago.  Forty-six percent said they did.  It seemed that the old saying "Think before you speak" has become, "Speak at your peril."

The five freedoms that make the United States of America what has been called the freest people in the world are freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and the right to petition the government.  Termination of those rights, whether by changes in laws or by individuals self-limiting their willingness to exercise those rights, diminishes our freedoms.

It has been said that those freedoms are the lifeblood of democracy, and the words of Benjamin Franklin validate the importance felt by the founding fathers at that time.  "In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own," and furthermore, "Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a Nation must begin by limiting the freedom of speech."

When it becomes difficult, or even dangerous, to speak with those having different opinions, we weaken the evolving wisdom of the nation.  The founding fathers knew the importance of sharing opinions as a way to keep up with our ever-changing world, both the exchange of ideas in communities and in state and national political chambers.  The warning of Socrates remains:  "The misuse of language induces evil in the soul."  

America has a Free Speach Problem. https://wwwnytimes.com/2022/03/18/opinion/cancel-culture-free-speach-poil.html