Friday, February 04, 2005
(1:36 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Friday Afternoon Confessional: Free Speech Edition
I confess: I want free speech. I want to be able to experiment with words and concepts, to throw them around -- in formal settings and informal -- and I want to be able to retract or modify them at will. It's easier to do that in an academic setting, but I want that in my personal life, too. (A little irrational, but why want something rational?) And so sometimes, no matter how I twist and squirm, I can't get out of what I've said. Sin springs to life and I die!Your honor, you have to understand: I read too much Derrida as a kid. The democracy to come sounds fine to me, sitting in the sandbox of language playing with Leviticus and Heidegger and whatever else comes to hand. Why do you guys think I liked that Agamben quote so much? You know, the one from the post with the comment thread?
Yes, I confess that I want free speech. I am willing to extend the same courtesy to others -- in fact, patronizing as I can sometimes be, arrogant, sarcastic/ironic, ridiculous, pompous, etc., I confess: I usually do extend that same courtesy to others. Almost always. Even when I think you're being an asshole or even when I'm afraid you're going to be, I'm clearing out this space for you to speak.
I usually do extend that courtesy. And when I don't, I confess. That's not bad. I think I'm actually doing pretty good on that front.
UPDATE: I'd also like to confess that while I sometimes feel as though I'm being attacked for not being Christian enough (or at least for suborning insufficient Christianity), I'm really fucking sick of the guy who's following me around the Internet harrassing me for being too Christian. Really fucking sick of him. And so I request: all members of my blogroll, all of my blog buddies, if you notice someone who hates continental philosophy, who accuses you of not having read your Quine, who refers to me and Anthony as something like "Sunday school leftist buttphags," then block him. Block his IP address -- block him using the method where you have the first three numbers, then a star for the fourth one. I want him gone. I want him out of my life and out of all of our lives.
I know I just talked about how proud I am that I provide a forum for free speech, but that's just one of those aporias that we're going to have to deal with -- some voices have to be silenced, at least in certain spaces. If the ACLU wants to file a suit on his behalf, I'll consider relenting, but until then, please join me in my extermination policy.
