Friday was Canada Day where I live and Monday is the 4th of July in America. On this long weekend in which so many of us are counting our blessings it’s important to have clarity about one thing: Debate is necessary. Silencing people is wrong.
Attempting to silence those with whom you disagree by calling them murderers of your grandchildren is reprehensible. It convinces no one. It says you are a close-minded fanatic.
There’s a gentleman out there by the name of Greg Laden. Surrealistically he blogs at a web domain calledScienceBlogs.com. He holds a PhD from Harvard, yet despite all that education he still doesn’t understand that free speech isn’t a trinket to be tossed aside whenever someone feels strongly about a topic.
A few days ago he wrote:
When you look upon a global warming denialist, you are not seeing a person who is deluded, wrong, misinformed, or misguided. You are seeing a person who is intent on killing your grandchildren. You may want to treat them politely, you may want to be a dick to them. Do whatever works. But don’t let them think for a second that you do not know what the consequences of their actions are. Don’t let them get away with it.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If, in the name of fighting global warming, we leave our grandchildren a world in which Mother Nature is revered but free speech, freedom to live where they wish, and to have as many children as they choose have all disappeared they won’t thank us.
Once we start down this path REALLY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN. There is nothing that fanatics can’t justify as being in the interests of saving the planet. Nothing.
