An extremely important article. There is overwhelming evidence that a rudimentary moral sense is innate in humanity, starting with the Yale experiments on the eye movements of 3-month-olds watching puppet shows (Bloom, Just Babies). Our moral sense causes us emotional pain when there is a dissonance between our actions and our values, yet there are abundant historical examples of kind, intelligent people justifying the most appalling actions, from slavery to warfare. Robert Trivers and others have pointed out that self-deception enables us to unwittingly act ruthlessly in our self-interest, gaming a conscience wired for kindness and collaboration.
So free speech is key, but it's not a panacea. Not only does free speech offer a platform to people you disagree with or dislike, it can also be used to spread fake news and misinformation that can have lasting consequences. During the Renaissance a book called the Hammer of the Witches argued that "modern" witches were causing crop failures and irregular weather patterns. Coinciding with the Little Ice Age, the book became a best-seller second only to the Bible for centuries, overturning a ban on executions for witchcraft in western Europe that had lasted for a thousand years, and leading to the deaths of 60,000 people, 80% of them women.
In the 21st century we may have better scientific evidence to debunk fake news, but the largely unregulated social media platforms use algorithms that encourage polarization, feeding red meat that gives us an emotional high rather than challenging us with dissenting voices. We need to protect the right to free speech from attacks by the left or the right, but we also need to ensure that the media platforms we use force us to step out of the echo chamber.
Your final sentence is worthy of reflection. The malformation industry, launch by Rush, expanded by his dozens of imitators across the country, boosted by the cynical Murdoch family and force multiplied by social media has created tens of millions of voters who have come untethered from common knowledge. The existential issue for America's democracy is found is this simple James Madison quote: "A democratic republic requires a well-informed electorate." Personally, I'm not confident that our democracy can be saved from the ignorance created by the profitable malinformation industry.
Great article. Free speech is essential. And censoring speech is inevitably censoring political dissent. Today its the Trump admin censoring criticism of Israel. In Europe today its censoring people who criticize mass immigration. Three years ago it was the Biden admin censoring Stanford professors who questioned lockdowns to prevent covid spreading. A whole misinformation industrial complex has been funded, as Matt Taibbi has documented.
Great article, and totally accurate to call into picture the significant censorious impulses of the left during the Great Awokening, now the right has political power and is using state power to seriously censor speech. It's obviously a very difficult thing to go, defend speech you dislike, almost unnatural for humans.
I'm just once again so very grateful Madison listened to the anti-federalists and created a Bill of rights enshrining protected speech and expression.
"Self-deception also fuels optimism, another adaptive and valued trait. People who convince themselves they can overcome daunting challenges against improbable odds make those challenges appear manageable to others, thus inspiring them."
No, self-deception that fuels optimism is something that weak leaders do, and it generally results in failure. And you explain why... the lie takes a large and exhausting effort to keep up and eventually those that follow start to see the cracks and jump ship. Those that do well fueling optimism are good at acknowledging the challenges and tradeoffs but focus on the problem or opportunity goals and are good at making decisions while organizing and executing a plan to accomplish.
Self-deception generally starts with intellectual dishonesty... until people start believing their own fake news.
I am a near free-speech absolutist. That is why I support, for example, giving power back to parents to make the decision for what information their kids should be allowed to ingest in class and in the school library. Where I do draw the line is any person in a position of power and influence promoting violence. My views have shifted on that as a free speech absolutist because of the evidence that 50% of the population are so easily influenced by their 24x7x365 media feeds.
The intellectual dishonesty in this claim that Trump Republicans are e same in power for attacking free speech is profound and it is leaking to become Democrat self-deception. And propping up that lie is showing all number of cracks in logic that the people are seeing.
For example, Trump just signed an executive order to prevent debanking over political views. That is a move to protect both left and right people from abuse of their 1st Amendment rights. We all know that Democrats in power would have gleefully chased debanking as a way to silence their political enemies.
Democrats showed us their true colors during the Biden era and continue to poll as being supportive of limiting speech. Democrats support hate crime laws that not only adopt the absurdity of being able to assess what is in another's heart, but to use that belief as a social and political weapon to punch down others that oppose their ideas.
Kimmel was temporarily fired by his bosses... it is their 1A right to do so. Contrast that to the massive Biden administration collusion and power abuse to force media and tech to cancel, shadow ban, de-platform and cancel thousands of people... you would be deep into self-deception to keep hoisting the lie that Trump is doing the same.
Donald Trump, Jr's "Consquence Culture" is synonymous with the left's use of "freedom of speech doesn't mean you're free from consequences" in justifying the social and professional punishments of leftist and liberal dissenters.
You mention research that most people believe they are “more moral” than average. What does this mean? Some possibilities: 1) My beliefs are close to the truth than most others’. 2) I behave in accordance with my beliefs more often than others behave on accordance with MY beliefs. 3) I behave is accordance with my beliefs more often than others behave in accordance with THEIR beliefs.
In the first two senses, it is quite rational for most people to consider themselves above average. If you thought others’ beliefs were better than yours, you would adopt them. If you have poor self-control, you should probably rate yourself below average by the third definition, but you may still be above average by the second because disciplined people who don’t share your beliefs often don’t do what you would have them do.
This is an excellent essay on self-deception, but I'd say it runs parallel to the discussion of free speech rather than intersecting with it.
Voltaire probably took a back seat to no one in self-deception, if that means the conviction that his own position was right, and yet he fiercely advocated free speech for all. I don't find it hard, either. I may be too sure that justice is on my side, and it's true that I think certain people should go and stand on their own soapboxes instead of seizing the microphone of a major political party; but I would not therefore silence anyone.
Why are we attacking each other, across the western liberal democracies, with such totality?
I subscribe to the generational cycle theory. The young are far more extreme than the old. They want a new society rebuilt atop the rubble of the old one we so carelessly tore down.
This lurch, by the young, from the individual to the collective isn’t crazy. It’s needed. But it involves destruction of the edifices that remain. That involves extreme thinking, extreme words, extreme behaviors. You can not refurbish an old house without, first, the demolition hammers.
And we must tell ourselves these higher stories of righteous intent - the better house to come - to justify this intentional destruction. We can’t say (out loud) what we’re actually feeling and doing - do virtue posturing is our defense mechanism.
It happens every 80-100 years. It’s on time. It’s how it works.
An extremely important article. There is overwhelming evidence that a rudimentary moral sense is innate in humanity, starting with the Yale experiments on the eye movements of 3-month-olds watching puppet shows (Bloom, Just Babies). Our moral sense causes us emotional pain when there is a dissonance between our actions and our values, yet there are abundant historical examples of kind, intelligent people justifying the most appalling actions, from slavery to warfare. Robert Trivers and others have pointed out that self-deception enables us to unwittingly act ruthlessly in our self-interest, gaming a conscience wired for kindness and collaboration.
So free speech is key, but it's not a panacea. Not only does free speech offer a platform to people you disagree with or dislike, it can also be used to spread fake news and misinformation that can have lasting consequences. During the Renaissance a book called the Hammer of the Witches argued that "modern" witches were causing crop failures and irregular weather patterns. Coinciding with the Little Ice Age, the book became a best-seller second only to the Bible for centuries, overturning a ban on executions for witchcraft in western Europe that had lasted for a thousand years, and leading to the deaths of 60,000 people, 80% of them women.
In the 21st century we may have better scientific evidence to debunk fake news, but the largely unregulated social media platforms use algorithms that encourage polarization, feeding red meat that gives us an emotional high rather than challenging us with dissenting voices. We need to protect the right to free speech from attacks by the left or the right, but we also need to ensure that the media platforms we use force us to step out of the echo chamber.
Your final sentence is worthy of reflection. The malformation industry, launch by Rush, expanded by his dozens of imitators across the country, boosted by the cynical Murdoch family and force multiplied by social media has created tens of millions of voters who have come untethered from common knowledge. The existential issue for America's democracy is found is this simple James Madison quote: "A democratic republic requires a well-informed electorate." Personally, I'm not confident that our democracy can be saved from the ignorance created by the profitable malinformation industry.
I sure agree with that!
Great article. Free speech is essential. And censoring speech is inevitably censoring political dissent. Today its the Trump admin censoring criticism of Israel. In Europe today its censoring people who criticize mass immigration. Three years ago it was the Biden admin censoring Stanford professors who questioned lockdowns to prevent covid spreading. A whole misinformation industrial complex has been funded, as Matt Taibbi has documented.
"The greatest threat to free expression today isn’t just censorship. It’s our waning appetite for self-scrutiny."
That says it well. Good post!
Great article, and totally accurate to call into picture the significant censorious impulses of the left during the Great Awokening, now the right has political power and is using state power to seriously censor speech. It's obviously a very difficult thing to go, defend speech you dislike, almost unnatural for humans.
I'm just once again so very grateful Madison listened to the anti-federalists and created a Bill of rights enshrining protected speech and expression.
"Self-deception also fuels optimism, another adaptive and valued trait. People who convince themselves they can overcome daunting challenges against improbable odds make those challenges appear manageable to others, thus inspiring them."
No, self-deception that fuels optimism is something that weak leaders do, and it generally results in failure. And you explain why... the lie takes a large and exhausting effort to keep up and eventually those that follow start to see the cracks and jump ship. Those that do well fueling optimism are good at acknowledging the challenges and tradeoffs but focus on the problem or opportunity goals and are good at making decisions while organizing and executing a plan to accomplish.
Self-deception generally starts with intellectual dishonesty... until people start believing their own fake news.
I am a near free-speech absolutist. That is why I support, for example, giving power back to parents to make the decision for what information their kids should be allowed to ingest in class and in the school library. Where I do draw the line is any person in a position of power and influence promoting violence. My views have shifted on that as a free speech absolutist because of the evidence that 50% of the population are so easily influenced by their 24x7x365 media feeds.
The intellectual dishonesty in this claim that Trump Republicans are e same in power for attacking free speech is profound and it is leaking to become Democrat self-deception. And propping up that lie is showing all number of cracks in logic that the people are seeing.
For example, Trump just signed an executive order to prevent debanking over political views. That is a move to protect both left and right people from abuse of their 1st Amendment rights. We all know that Democrats in power would have gleefully chased debanking as a way to silence their political enemies.
Democrats showed us their true colors during the Biden era and continue to poll as being supportive of limiting speech. Democrats support hate crime laws that not only adopt the absurdity of being able to assess what is in another's heart, but to use that belief as a social and political weapon to punch down others that oppose their ideas.
Kimmel was temporarily fired by his bosses... it is their 1A right to do so. Contrast that to the massive Biden administration collusion and power abuse to force media and tech to cancel, shadow ban, de-platform and cancel thousands of people... you would be deep into self-deception to keep hoisting the lie that Trump is doing the same.
Your last paragraph says it all.
Donald Trump, Jr's "Consquence Culture" is synonymous with the left's use of "freedom of speech doesn't mean you're free from consequences" in justifying the social and professional punishments of leftist and liberal dissenters.
You mention research that most people believe they are “more moral” than average. What does this mean? Some possibilities: 1) My beliefs are close to the truth than most others’. 2) I behave in accordance with my beliefs more often than others behave on accordance with MY beliefs. 3) I behave is accordance with my beliefs more often than others behave in accordance with THEIR beliefs.
In the first two senses, it is quite rational for most people to consider themselves above average. If you thought others’ beliefs were better than yours, you would adopt them. If you have poor self-control, you should probably rate yourself below average by the third definition, but you may still be above average by the second because disciplined people who don’t share your beliefs often don’t do what you would have them do.
This is an excellent essay on self-deception, but I'd say it runs parallel to the discussion of free speech rather than intersecting with it.
Voltaire probably took a back seat to no one in self-deception, if that means the conviction that his own position was right, and yet he fiercely advocated free speech for all. I don't find it hard, either. I may be too sure that justice is on my side, and it's true that I think certain people should go and stand on their own soapboxes instead of seizing the microphone of a major political party; but I would not therefore silence anyone.
We live in a revolutionary moment.
But why?
Why are we attacking each other, across the western liberal democracies, with such totality?
I subscribe to the generational cycle theory. The young are far more extreme than the old. They want a new society rebuilt atop the rubble of the old one we so carelessly tore down.
This lurch, by the young, from the individual to the collective isn’t crazy. It’s needed. But it involves destruction of the edifices that remain. That involves extreme thinking, extreme words, extreme behaviors. You can not refurbish an old house without, first, the demolition hammers.
And we must tell ourselves these higher stories of righteous intent - the better house to come - to justify this intentional destruction. We can’t say (out loud) what we’re actually feeling and doing - do virtue posturing is our defense mechanism.
It happens every 80-100 years. It’s on time. It’s how it works.