For Their Own Good

I really dig Jeff Goldstein, mostly because he writes stuff like this:

I wrote a week or so back about the Edwards campaign’s attempts to turn pointed criticism into “hate speech,” a designation that carries with it the stigma of criminality thanks to the (unfortunate) existence of actual hate speech laws, which are increasingly poised to grease the slipperly slope toward a linguistic “tolerance” based upon the illiberal premise that particular identity groups have a “right” not to be offended — a concept that, should it continue to gain policy support, will have the practical effect of turning the concept of free speech completely on its head, replacing it with a kind of “benevolent” totalitarianism that would dictate the kinds of speech that are acceptably free.

I'd been wanting to make that point, but he did it so well with that one paragraph that I can't see why I'd bother making the attempt. Go read the whole thing.

I'd argue that the whole "Hate Speech/Hate Crime" thing is actually symptomatic of a more general tendency found in most liberals.
Many of them are so completely convinced of their own enlightenment that they believe that they know what's best for the "brainless masses" or "sheeple" (gag) better than the "masses" themselves. And of course, this means that we "masses" types had better tow the line, or else pay the consequences. It's for your own good, you see. In response, allow me to quote another author vastly more talented than yours truly:

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. -- CS Lewis, "God in the Dock" (1948)

Posted by: Joseph at 02:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 333 words, total size 2 kb.