QUORA – Why do people demand “free speech” for their own opinions but often want to silence or dismiss opinions they strongly disagree with?
Most people are lost in dysrationality, and their “demanding” emotions act as the guardians of and soldiers for their irrationally held thoughts.
Without reason, individuals lack the capacity to pursue truth, within which free speech participates. Reason explicitly does not involve making a decision or reaching a conclusion (followed by action). This is the problem. One has free speech, but they do not have the freedom to follow through with action to further their speech. Most of the time, that distinction is lost or never understood.
In other words, as a relevant adaptation to the above meme, It is the mark of a rational mind “to entertain a thought without ACTING on it.”
However, presently, vast swathes of people are dysrational. In other words, they do not pursue truth or look for the larger picture; they instead intend to act. That’s the problem. Others expect this. Consequently, because the beliefs are not shared, the opposition is silencing speech due to the likely unwanted and imminent application of that speech.
It’s unfortunate. Civilization needs reasonable people.
