To glorify democracy and to silence the people is a farce.
—
Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed)
With this democracy, which I began to look at last time, comes the right to say whatever one wants (within certain bounds, of course).
The problem comes from two directions. The first is being faced in the very act
of allowing these people to comment and to speak and to flaunt their ignorance
and to spread their worthless stupidity all over the place. But, who is to
judge what is ignorant or stupid or worthless? Good question? So, those who
allow this sort of commenting to continue are trying to show a basic trust in
other humans. We should trust each other to do what is right. According to
Paulo Freire, without that trust there will never be true democracy.
Now, I want to go back
to the American Revolution. They were writing pamphlets and others were writing
pamphlets to counter the first pamphlets and there was a serious dialogue
happening. The entire process actually helped shape the ideals of the early
America. Not that those ideals were complete and perfect, but they were the
beginning of democracy in the world and the freedoms that those pamphleteers
enjoyed were then written into law so that future generations could blabber
away on the internet.
It seems that most
people, today, think of the American revolutionaries as quaint old guys and a
bunch of windbags that were only interested in not paying taxes. But, they
established the very right which allows me to publish this essay on this blog.
I have freedom of speech.
There is a cliché that
says, “Freedom is never free.” And I believe that, and I’m sure you believe it,
too. So, in taking the liberty, not only to write this essay, but to post it
for all the world to read, I take that saying into consideration. I do not want
to betray your trust and at the same time I have the faith that we as human
beings can make democracy the powerful political and social ideal that it has
the potential to be. That requires something else, which Paulo Freire mentions:
“true words.”
Freire says that true
words embody both action and reflection. If action is missing, then we see what
we see today on the internet—what Freire calls “verbalism.” Without
reflection we get mere “activism.” To truly change things we need both.
We need “praxis.” Freire writes, “Thus, to speak a true word is to transform
the world.”1 So, we have freedom, especially in this country,
and every voice should be heard.
Ultimately, it comes
down to how we choose to use our voices. We can use them to spread hatred and
tension, we can use them to merely throw empty words into empty space where
their lack of authenticity will change nothing. Or, we can choose to follow
Freire's words of wisdom and we can speak "true words" that engender
both action and reflection and thus have power to change our world.
Happy 4th of July! Remember the First
Amendment and The Golden Rule!
NOTES:
1.
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 30th Anniversary Ed. (New York: Continuum,
2000). 87
