Freedom = Risk
May. 6th, 2014 08:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chris_gerribMy response to this article equating ripping a sign from a protester's hand to the resignation of Brenden Eich:
We have a definition for ripping signs out of peoples’ hands: assault. It’s illegal and I for one am against it.
I don’t want anybody to get fired for what they said off-the-job. However, telling me that “you can’t criticize Person X because Person / Organization Y will do something bad to X” means that I have (in practice) no right of free speech. In Eich’s case, there were two separate and distinct acts – the act of criticizing him and the act of accepting his resignation. One can (and should) deal with those two acts separately.
I also think that with freedom comes risk. That’s my real name up there, and it’s unique enough that a Google search will pop up me and blood relatives. So, every time I say something, I take a risk that somebody will object forcefully enough to cause me harm. That risk is the price of freedom.
We have a definition for ripping signs out of peoples’ hands: assault. It’s illegal and I for one am against it.
I don’t want anybody to get fired for what they said off-the-job. However, telling me that “you can’t criticize Person X because Person / Organization Y will do something bad to X” means that I have (in practice) no right of free speech. In Eich’s case, there were two separate and distinct acts – the act of criticizing him and the act of accepting his resignation. One can (and should) deal with those two acts separately.
I also think that with freedom comes risk. That’s my real name up there, and it’s unique enough that a Google search will pop up me and blood relatives. So, every time I say something, I take a risk that somebody will object forcefully enough to cause me harm. That risk is the price of freedom.
