Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the moment opinion is met with death threats, there is no longer civilization in the land. What had been civilization has now become anarchy, and until the threat of death for opinion is removed, there will be no civilization… with all that portends. It should be clear to everyone, it is not the right role of government to empower those that meet opinion with death threats, because government’s role is to foster peaceful civilization, so the people can go about their days without being molested or having their property stolen. Those that meet opinion with violence are to be vilified, and if possible, incarcerated. They are the very real manifestation of a mortal threat to civilization and should be treated as such.
The role of right government is to create a framework so that commerce and social living can go on with minimal impediment. This is one of the reasons Machiavelli said that a stable tyranny is preferable, to the people, than an unstable democracy. A stable tyranny is just that… stable, while an unstable democracy is, well… unstable. People cannot walk down the street alone in an unstable society, women and children are always in danger from the criminal element, and property is up for grabs where instability reigns. While on the other hand, people prosper in a stable society, a woman can walk down the street or ride a bus alone in safety, and children can play without fear of predators. Clearly, from this we can see, the right role of government is to foster a stable society and shun that which makes it unstable.
Civilization itself is dependent on the free exchange of information. Much of that information is in the form of opinion. If certain opinions are met with threats of death, especially if they are carried out, they shut down the free flow of information. By definition and by design. Civilizations that have no debate quickly stagnate and die unless there is a source of outside income. Stopping the flow of information necessarily staunches debate. The reason staunching of debate is so bad for a society, is because various societies are intermingled, and in competition. They are usually designated by national boundaries, but sometimes cross those boundaries, the Kurds for example. Those countries that stifle debate, fall behind those that do not, in every metric of good. For example, poor performing economies, they quickly become tyrannies, and their state of general education declines, among many other negatives.
Those who are insecure in their beliefs are always those who seek to shut down the opinions of others. They unconsciously know the weakness of their arguments and instead of backing them up with logic, which is their opinion’s weakness, they back it up with violence. This means that no one in the debate, believes that the position who threatens violence is correct… even those that argue for it! If they themselves know there is no argument that can be made for their position, but have too much hubris to cede it, violence is their only resort. By doing this they discredit not only themselves but their very movement! That is not to say, once violence is started one shouldn’t protect themselves, it is natural rights, to meet violence with violence, but is far different from threatening death for opinion, that is meeting words with violent action. Words can be ignored but violent action cannot be.
Where civilization is in decline and instability rears it’s head… poverty and want can never be far behind. Those that threaten the stability of society and undermine it’s growth, are in fact leading directly to our civilization’s destruction, and therefore are a direct threat to us, our legacy and our children. The best thing to do, is to immediately point at the offender, whenever violence is offered for opinion. Let’s face it, offering violence for opinion, is evil, and if we all point at evil, evil cannot hide behind platitudes and spurious ad homonym attacks. The cumulative light of all of us, shining our own little beam on evil, must wither and dessicate it. Like a vampire in the old movies… evil can only live in darkness.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
