September 30 2012 – by Annabel Crabb | smh opinion
Brilliant write this 🙂
… Freedom of speech – it’s simple in theory, but endlessly complicated and distorted by a million other factors of politics, circumstance, or the belief that you’re restricting it for the best possible reasons.
In the end, freedom of speech is like democracy: the worst possible system, except for all the others.
Attempts to curb freedom of speech for entirely excellent reasons are the most tempting of all: the shutting down of hate speech, for example, or the protection of society from extremes.
Human nature is to insulate ourselves against nasty shocks. That’s why we invented insurance. But you can’t insure against genuinely irrational human evil, any more than you can against stupidity or malice.
Which is why the bottom line on freedom of speech must always be: sometimes you just have to suck it up.
Read the whole thing here: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/the-worst-possible-option-except…
Annabel Crabb writes for ABC Online’s The Drum. She tweets as @annabelcrabb.