Comment by HDThoreaun
8 days ago
Very sad to see this from the country that produced some of the most influential pro freedom of speech philosophy the world has ever seen.
8 days ago
Very sad to see this from the country that produced some of the most influential pro freedom of speech philosophy the world has ever seen.
Well they also produced pre-totalitarian authors, such as Thomas Hobbes and his advocacy of authoritarian states.
I think this is the most uncharitable reading and understand of Hobbes that exists. The main argument (and context) is that men is evil and can only live in "civilization" by being forced into it by an absolutely powerful state. The fact this state is a monarchy, a dictatroship or a democracy is not the issue. The fact (in which he is right) a state needs absolute power and monopoly of that power. Modern democracies are a good example, they have the absolute power and thus are more stable and peaceful that warlord controlled pseudo-countries in Africa.
From Wikipedia:
"The purpose of the commonwealth is peace, and the sovereign has the right to do whatever he thinks necessary for the preserving of peace and security and prevention of discord. Therefore, the sovereign may judge what opinions and doctrines are averse, who shall be allowed to speak to multitudes, and who shall examine the doctrines of all books before they are published."
This is an explicit restriction of free speech, in line with what's happening nowadays in the UK.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_(Hobbes_book)
You've confused the concept of an absolute sovereign with this which is control over the private lives of the individual and the family.
Hobbes makes plenty of comments about how the Sovereign is able to rule civil matters, such as speech, family or religion.
2 replies →
Freedom of speech is not the same as age restrictions on porn.
Exactly. The idea that pornography has to be available to anyone regardless of age/maturity at any time and for any reason is insane. I suspect that a lot of the (mostly judicial) lawmaking in this area did not foresee the internet and its impacts. There is a big difference in the allowing people to go see a pornographic film in a specialized seedy cinema (where age-gating is trivial) and having it available to every child in their pocket.