Sarah Hoyt said something at her blog that I consider as brilliant as it is painfully obvious:
You do not in fact have the right to stop people thinking thoughts you don’t like.
As to why fewer and fewer people seem to understand this, I don’t know. It seems that especially in academia, thought police abound. The idea of uprooting and destroying the disliked or unwanted thoughts of others at least as old as the Inquisition, and as modern as communism and other forms of totalitarianism. I hate to see it metastasizing as it is in the United States.
Of course, with the right amount of pressure (which can be social), it is possible to stop someone from voicing the thoughts you might dislike, but he will still think them, and hence the constant need for inquisitions. Um, sorry there! I meant “conversations.”
All too often the phrase “we need to have a conversation” means “You do not have the right to think thoughts I don’t like, and I am going to stop you from thinking them!”
Fortunately, Americans have no right to police the thoughts of other Americans.
Unfortunately, too many of them have what amounts to de facto power.
Comments
One response to “The have no right! But do they have power?”
“Of course, with the right amount of pressure (which can be social), it is possible to stop someone from voicing the thoughts you might dislike, but he will still think them”
Not always. If their need to be part of a group is strong enough they may just shut down their thought processes and follow. If their need to have status is strong enough, they may seize the doctrine and lead. Although they can do the latter without actually adopting the belief, it does make it easier.