Freedom Flies on the Wings of Truth

Violence is one of the greatest threats to free speech and unhindered, creative thought.  A cause may be just, the change it promotes may be sorely needed, but in today's world, where violence is routinely denounced at all levels of society, the actions of a few may poison public perception of the cause, and its advocates may be viewed in an unfair, negative light.  The same can be said for religious beliefs and affiliations, ethnic groups, and so on.  Those who are willing to destroy also threaten to destroy the kinds of socially harmonious environments that are necessary for ideas to flourish.  For the sake of good, guiltless people everywhere-people who have every right to have divergent views and beliefs-tolerance must be encouraged and violent extremism denounced.  

An environment that allows for dissent, creative thinking, the introduction of seemingly alien ideas, and the open discussion of everything is *simply* the means to other ends.  Those ends are greater truth and greater freedom.  The hope is that truth makes itself known when opposing ideas are discussed intelligently and at length.  The greater the discourse, the more decisive truth's victory.  The stronger the opposition, the stronger truth becomes.  Or so liberal philosophers contend.  

I choose to believe that truth's quality is inherent and its benefits are all pervasive.  It IS a big deal.  But truth does serve as a means itself.  I can't think of any other way to put it: Truth is like a bird that delivers freedom to all (envision a bald eagle or something...).  If we make Truth our king, our emperor-our ultimate authority-;then no king, no emperor-no pretender-can take away our physical freedom or undermine our wills with their false ideas (they may still literally be able to do so... this is why we rely on democracy to make the last statement correct).  

Ok, I'm done playing John Stewart Mills.  Let's refocus on the subject at hand (there is a connection, I promise).  In the last post I began by calling for a deep understanding of seemingly irrational behavior.  When I described a scenario that could cause some of us to act in ways we now perceive as abhorrent, I knowingly risked coming across as an apologist for terrorists or cold blooded killers.  

As usual, I had more than one motivation for bringing up the subject.  First, I thought to myself, "What if this twisted rational-that an individual can justify the evil that they commit by placing all the blame on the general policies and actions of others (in the example discussed, the policy of the British government regarding Afghanistan and the muslim word)-were to catch on?  Think of the horrors we would face as a civilization if people who are now peaceful allowed themselves to be won over by the immoral/irrational thinking of extremists."

Second, I had to ask:  "What IS immoral/irrational about the thinking of extremists?"  I could provide a one or two sentence answer at this very moment.  But the philosopher in me wants to give this question greater deliberation, particularly in light of the fact that anyone can understand, with a little effort, why they do what they do.  We need to ask, "Why shouldn't they do what they do?"  And, "What is irrational about their choices."  

Third, there's a very utilitarian, pragmatic reason for breaking down the conditions and rational that give rise to extreme/absurd ideas/behavior.  Mainly, we want to prevent these things from happening again.  If we knew for a fact that all it took to create the next Hitler was X + Y + Z, it would be outrageous to allow X, Y, and Z to take place without some serious discussion, regardless of how seemingly innocent X, Y, and Z are on their own, and regardless of the fact that ultimate responsibility for Hitler's actions lie with himself.  

Plenty to dive into for the next post.