RE: Absolute Freedom & Respect Conflicts - Dutch Tradition to Remember the Victims of Freedom
I strongly agree that 1) humanity is not very respectful these days, 2) that respectfulness is very important, and 3) that we should strive to do better.
But I also think that that improvement must not come at the cost of "freedom of speech", free speech is one of the key tenets that makes a place "good", and worth defending. So we need to be very careful about diminishing the rights of idiots to speech, even when they are idiots, because that freedom is core to ensuring that our homes (my is Canada), remain worth defending in the first place.
The way I think we need to defend and foster respectfulness is by being better teachers and parents, myself included. We need to lead our youth (I have two daughters) to a place where they understand the importance of respectfulness and also using their voice wisely.
In a sense, I am saying, we need to respect free speech, in that we dont waste our freedom by tearing down people, and traditions needlessly, which is what one does, if they shout idioticly while others gather in silence to remember lost lives and sacrifice.
Tough issue and it deserves deep consideration from both angles, thanks for sharing.
This is certainly a very tough topic, reason for me to write the article. On one hand I don't like to limit freedom of speech by law. I very much agree with you we all must do better to spread the words of 'be respectful' around us. While I do think we can indeed do better, I also think there will always be people who don't care at all, who provoke in disrespectful ways.
It becomes an even more difficult topic, since what one thinks is disrespectful, others may think it is humour and entertainment; for instance, cracking a joke about some religion, head of state and so on. I think jokes are allowed to be made about anybody and anything, but also here is a fine line between what is respectful and what is not. The what, when, where is always very important to have in mind and can never be defined in an objective way.
The fact that you realize that this cannot be objectively determined is exactly why there should be no law suppressing their protest. If you make laws based on offense, you'll quickly find your freedom to speak dramatically curtailed. If there's an opinion out in the world, you can bet someone takes offense to it. Best to let social norms handle this rather than the law.
As you write, I understand the difficulties defining what is ok and what is not ok wrt what/when/where someone says something. The action making loud noise, can happen anytime imho, but out of respect, don't do it during the 2 minute of silence. And yes, I do know it probably cannot be defined in law. However, maybe we shall look for new law systems. I'm not sure how that should look like, but I would like to see respect and fair being a dominant part of such system. What is you solution for all of us to be more respectful?
Social shaming is probably the best you can do here. The state should never be used to punish speech unless it represents a clear and present danger to someone's life and / or property. That way there is a modicum of objectivity to the law.
I agree social shaming maybe the best way indeed.