Free speech vs hate speech

Where’s the line?

There’s that famous quote:

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it

Evelyn Beatrice Hall

My issue here is about what happens when, what you say is to exhort the mobs to take away someone else’s right to speech, life, or dignity.

Does your right to free speech still supercede others’ rights to speech or life?
What if you’re actively supporting, for narrow financial reasons, someone who promises to take away others’ rights to speech or life?

Where is the line?

Because I’m happy

Woke up happy. The book last night had been good, the bed had been better than previous night, and the dream was not a negative one like usual.

Got happier. Someone donated £5.00 to the Clutter Free fund. Thanks Rami!

Got happier. Got the “You’re in” magazine from London Marathon ballot. I’ll finally be running the London marathon after 4 attempts!

And then happiest person around. Kissed and hugged and made up with mi amore. And hugged some more1 :)

  1. Though I really wanted to hug her, and kiss her last night when I was crying and laughing while reading that book. Still, better late than never :) ↩

Money. Shame… Death?

Money may change everything, as Cyndi Lauper sang. But lack of money definitely ruins everything.

Financial impotence casts a pall of misery. It keeps you up at night and makes you not want to get up in the morning. It forces you to recede from the world. It eats at your sense of self-worth, your confidence, your energy, and, worst of all, your hope. It is ruinous to relationships, turning spouses against each other in tirades of calumny and recrimination, and even children against parents…

Financial insecurity is associated with depression, anxiety, and a loss of personal control that leads to marital difficulties…

My Secret Shame, in The New Yorker

Continue reading Money. Shame… Death?

“Things just aren’t like they used to be”

Nobody is nostalgic for the communist era, but many people are nostalgic for their youth

Ivan Klima, a Czech novelist (Source)

People come to rock concerts, Mr Springsteen writes, “to be reminded of something they already know and feel.”

Source

Police. People.

Look, we’re wired differently.

We run towards gunfire.
We drink when we’re sad.
We screw when we’re mad.

And people hate us,
until they need us.

And I hate that.
But I love it, too.

We walk a higher path.
It’s not simple.
It’s very hard.

And that is why,
people will always need us.

– Detective Misty Knight, in Luke Cage S01E09