Sunday, August 13, 2006

Freedom and quality

"The price of freedom of religion, or of speech, or of the press, is that we must put up with a good deal of rubbish."
-- Robert Jackson

... Indeed yes. On the other hand, while less freedom certainly diminishes the amount of rubbish, the funny thing is that it has never diminished the percentage of rubbish! (The logical conclusion is that less freedom immediately cuts down on the quality offerings of anything.) - Eolake Stobblehouse

5 comments:

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

The desirability of freedom is obvious to you and me, but not to a huge percentage of humanity. Half of everybody will pick a well-ordered life over a free one any day.

Anonymous said...

Very well put (the observation about percentage).

Actually, seeing how low the support for Libertarian party in the US is (compared to GOP and Democrats) the situation might be even worse than your estimate of "half of everybody". The depressing thing is that this ain't gonna change for a long time. It will eventually, but don't hold your breath.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

You said it.

Anonymous said...

I think the presence of rubbish is a very small price to pay for freedom. In fact, the necessity to sort out the rubbish may very well contribute to our freedom, by forcing us to learn and use our judgement.

Anonymous said...

"One cannot force another into the waking world"
I think Governator Schwarzenegger once said (in politics, not in his movies), something in the style of "People want somebody that'll decide for them." The problem is, those who don't want it still end up being force-fed the dish, when guys like him are elected. "You'll eat what half of everybody is ordering, and you'll also pay your bill. Or do the dishes!"

"There seem to be quite a few amongst our species with good heads on their shoulders"
Lucid Twilight, ever heard of an enlightened ruler named "the Queen of Hearts"? There's a very simple remedy for curing that sickness known as "thinking"...
Becides, what kind of a name is "Lucid" anyway? Sounds provocative to me. Were you from, hunh? You might just be infected with lucidity. Got your Party Member's card, tovaritch?