“Make everything public now.”
Who knew I’d agree with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey on anything? But here we are.
If a mere idea is stupid or wrong, it should be available to the adult population.
There’s a reason why the speeches of Adolf Hitler are available via a simple Google search. And why Nietzsche’s work is translated into English. And why Lenin and Mussolini are taught in schools.
Some ideas are dangerous. But the rational, moral person will detect danger before these ideas actualize.
On the surface, keeping something so odious public may seem like a romanticization of an imperfect time or a glamorization of bad people or ideas. But keeping evil uncensored ultimately creates a stronger society.
Let’s say there is a consensus that killing an innocent human being is immoral. (With abortion and assisted suicide gaining popularity, that consensus is waning in America, but for now, it still exists.) Whether you attribute the agreement to natural law or social construction (hint: it’s the first one), the truth is ingrained in your conscience from an early age.
If histories of genocide or slavery were taught to you completely objectively, you could still weigh those periods against your well-formed conscience. You’d realize instantly the dignity of the human person had been degraded. It would be clear to you that some people, events, and eras were saturated with depravity.
Then, on that day when you encountered an unhinged madman on his soapbox spewing violent rhetoric or foolish notions about doing away with unwanted or inconvenient human beings, you, the rational and moral person that you are, would be able to filter out the hate and the blather.
Society’s problem today is not that man is irrational. It’s that man isn’t moral. John Adams said that our Constitution was designed only for a moral people. How right he was.
Government has ever-so-kindly intervened in culture. Kids are no longer instructed to weigh historical events or language against their well-formed consciences. They’re told what’s racist, insensitive, or bigoted, but not why.
Man is no longer expected—or encouraged—to think for himself. Government is doing the thinking for man. If your moral compass isn’t formed at a young age, you cannot weigh stupidity or evil later in life when you come across that aforementioned clown on his soapbox.
I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: Twitter functions like a nation.
Twitter is one big public square, increasingly so now that it has changed hands. It’s the free marketplace of ideas. Laissez-faire. (It’s how our economy is supposed to work, too. But that’s a conversation for a different time.) New owner Elon Musk is taking an American constitutional approach to the platform. If a tweet isn’t obscene or inciting violence, then no matter how ridiculous or offensive, it should be allowed to be posted for all to see.
Ideally, when a clown gets on his digital soapbox to spew horrific, hateful ideas, the rational and moral man will search elsewhere for good, sound ideas. He can weigh a stupid Tweet against his conscience and realize, Hey, that’s a pretty nasty idea! That way of thinking could lead to some pretty evil stuff! He doesn’t need the Twitter millionaires from assorted protected classes to censor it for him.
This only works, however, if every Twitter user—citizens of this “nation”—is moral.
Enter: Kanye West.
Kanye’s Twitter account was recently suspended so his insane anti-Semitic rants wouldn’t spur others to even worse behavior. It was also an intervention of sorts on Kanye’s own behalf—as Jason Whitlock pointed out, Musk actually did West a favor by cutting him off, much like a bartender who refuses to “overserve” an inebriated patron.
Most people hopped off the Ye train once his craziest statements were made public (and many before that), proving my earlier point. Maybe they would have jumped off earlier if all his ideas were out there, for all to see, months or years before.
Now, on the other side of the coin, tech giants and television news networks love to tell us what’s evil, or insensitive, or unproven in the name of “saving democracy.” Talking heads endlessly drone: Orange man is so bad, you don’t need to hear him. We’ll let you know.
Instead, we should be shown “evil ideas”—what they say is evil, and what actually is. In an age where video is so prevalent, use it! In a time where anyone can post, let them! Without the censors or unnecessary suspensions. And with fewer “misinformation” or “doctored photo” flags.
For decades they’ve been telling us what to think. We need to know how to think.
Show us pure evil, raw insensitivity, and unproven theories. If we can’t fight, filter, or denounce what’s dangerous for ourselves, “democracy” is, in fact, dead.
So let everyone speak. Make—and keep—everything public. Now.