Page 10 - The Market For Ideas no. 1, 2016
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argument does not apply. The own- attacked, and by doing that they try to down on their knees begging the Rus-
er should be the only one who should please all the parties involved. In Char- sians not to get angry. In fact, “peaceful
be able to decide what goes in his/her lie’s case the statement in question is coexistence” was the perfect tool for the
newspaper. It is his money and he takes the following: I fully agree with the ab- communists to take over the world. For
the risk. Anybody who feels unfairly ex- solute freedom of expression. The trou- those who do not remember, “peace-
cluded and does not find a newspaper ble is that it is followed by a conditional ful coexistence” was defined as a con-
owner to agree with him should start sentence that creates exceptions to this cept in which two different systems,
his own newspaper, his blog, his Face- otherwise absolute statement. each having its share of qualities and
book account, so that he can promote Interestingly enough, defects, must coex-
his ideas. we have a similar sit- ist and respect each
The libertarian position in this case is uation in the Roma- other. The realistic
crystal clear. The dean of the Austrian nian Constitution, and firm position
School of Economics Murray N. Roth- article number 7. that Ronald Reagan
bard presented it in the following way: The problem is both took sent the Soviet
“Freedom of expression means basically linguistic and lack Union to the histo-
that everybody has a right to say what- of logical support. If ry trash-bin, right
ever he wants. What is not mentioned you want to use an where it belonged.
is where this can take place. He can absolute statement, it The difference be-
definitely do it in a public place. Not cannot be followed by tween standing up
the same thing on somebody’s prop- a sentence that con- to the enemy and
erty. The property right precedes the tradicts its initial meaning. However, turning the other cheek is obvious.
right to exercise the free speech. If you the formulation that an element is ab- As a perfect conclusion, I would like to
want to have your opinion heard, you solutely well defined cannot be followed mention an article written by Cătălin
are always free to rent a hall”. All this is by a sentence that says “except in the Ștefănescu in Dilema Veche having a
largely explained in his book The Ethics following instances”: if you want to have significant title: “Tolerance is a code
of Liberty. some exceptions, you have to replace the name for being submissive and burying
Things became more complicated when word absolutely with the expression in your head in the sand”.
a private location is certified as a pub- general. Otherwise you have created a It is also the right time to address those
lic one. I am talking about a couple of perfect oxymoron. The Americans are who see only the short term implica-
bakers in the United States who refused right on target here: you cannot be a tions of their decisions. A way to de-
to bake a cake for a wedding between little pregnant. scribe them is by using the expression:
two men, invoking the freedom of their “The road to hell is paved with good
religious beliefs. In the end, the Court Be nice to him! So what if he’s intentions”. A typical product of this
decided in favour of the newlyweds, got a gun to your head way of thinking is the very much hated
considering the confectionery a certi- A typical misconception is that being “political correctness”.
fied public place that was not allowed to nice to your aggressor will make him
discriminate. In a similar case, an em- realize how wrong he is and he will You cannot say it better than
ployee of the City Hall refused to cer- stop attacking you and ask to be forgiv- that to conclude
tify a gay marriage. She was fired, the en. This is insane. If you take a stand I quote again from an article in
reason being that a state employee has you only provoke him, claim the so- România Liberă by Cristian Câmpeanu:
to follow the rules and her only other called peacemakers. This attitude liter- “Our world, our Western free society,
option was to quit. It is important to ally looks at the picture upside down. built with the sacrifice of tens of mil-
mention that in this case we have an If there is something that invites him lion people, is currently under attack by
unusual confrontation of two freedoms: to be more aggressive it is exactly the a primitive ideology that wants to de-
freedom of expression and religious opposite: weakness, fear and timidity. stroy it and if we do not find resources
freedom. It gives them a wider scope for action to defend it we will witness the end of
showing them that they have nothing civilization as we know it. We should
Maybe it’s time to do some to fear. The belief that if we present stop having multicultural dreams. The
mathematics: let’s say some ourselves as “good boys” we will be left only civilization that is capable to ac-
people are 1,000% sure, 100% in peace is not only hilarious, but also commodate at the same time a superi-
Perhaps this is the right moment to dangerous. or standard of living, safety, individual
mention the fundamental mistake that When Ronald Reagan called the Sovi- freedom and equality is the Western
has completely misdirected the Charlie et Union “The Evil Empire”, all of the civilization, in other words, the capital-
case. The situation occurred because so-called reasonable people who appre- ist democracy.” •
people have the tendency not to assert ciated “peaceful coexistence” (a notion
themselves firmly for the fear of being introduced by Henry Kissinger) went
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