Somehow in my adult life the idea of the good person has been switched from someone who stands up for the good, to someone who meekly follows orders.
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The Argument for Free Speech & Against Censorship
[I originally published this in 2017, then again in 2020. Sadly, it’s as relevant today as ever, and probably more so, because the longer we keep drifting towards censorship, the harder it is to free ourselves of it.] You can have free speech without violence or oppression, but censorship requires force, which means at least…
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The Argument for Free Speech & Against Censorship
[This is a re-post of an article I wrote 3 years ago, and which sadly has become increasingly relevant, so much so that one can’t even articulate why it is relevant today without risking being censored for doing so. Censorship is no longer the bad word it used to be, or something liberals oppose on…
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Runaway Rant: Justice, Caring, the Golden Rule, and the Social Contract.
Suddenly I realized how ridiculous it is to expect people to care. People are too subsumed in their own lives, responsibilities, worries, and so on to be expected to even have the wherewithal to care about you or me or this or that person, or group of people. Asking people to care is like asking…
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Runaway Rant: Is Facebook/Instagram Going Too Far With Censorship?
If you can’t beat ’em. Ban ’em! While Facebook and Instagram ostensibly banned “far right extremists”, banning people one doesn’t agree with itself resembles a “far right extremist” tactic. Banishing the opposition grates against my more progressive sensibility. Censorship is a tool historically associated with abuse of power, silencing dissent, and squashing the underdog. The…
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Runaway Rant: A Problem with Morality and Art
I just wanted to get out one thought here, folks, which is percolating in my mind over my morning coffee. In general, morality is defined by others, and art makes its own definitions, hence they work at cross purposes. How much are we, as individuals, self-defined, and how much defined by everything outside of ourselves?…
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Is Immoral Art Bad Art?
When I started chipping away at this topic I didn’t realize how enormous it was. I’ve written about censorship and highly political cases made against certain artists, but those issues are mere TIE fighters – morality is the Star Destroyer. You can vote in the poll before I have a chance to influence you one…
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The Argument for Free Speech & Against Censorship
You can have free speech without violence or oppression, but censorship requires force, which means at least oppression, and violence if necessary to enforce it. [Note: Here I am talking about ideas or arguments as free speech, not slander, malicious gossip, or plans to commit a crime, and not actual crimes such as snuff films,…
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The “Prisoners’ Dillemma” Vs. the “Interrogators’ Dilemma”.
Examining the rhetoric of the interrogators. Yesterday a post by American Lieutenant and “terrorist catcher” Chris Simmons, arguing that the “Prisoner’s Dillemma” technique for interrogation proved the “frailty of loyalty” in people, was freshly pressed. After reading his piece, some counterarguments came to mind. [Note that the following is not a criticism of the author – who…
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Art & Crit by Eric Wayne 
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