The personal is political

The personal is political

There should be a law!

Why is that so often the first reflex reaction? Laws are brittle, inflexible instruments. To my mind, there is a distinction between something that is illegal, and something which is immoral.

For a start, laws must be universal, by definition. Morality is personal. If an act is immoral, but affects only the person performing it, why should it be illegal?

More generally, if we take freedom of speech, the classic example of the limits of that freedom is shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre. But how about shouting insults and disturbing the performance in that theatre? Should that be illegal? Probably not - although the theatre management and the other patrons may choose to eject the disturber.

Wind the ratchet back another notch; what about whispering, muttering, eating noisy foods? Definitely not illegal, and probably not even grounds for ejection from the theatre, but certainly frowned upon by other members of the audience. I would suppose that anyone behaving like that might also have some trouble getting served at the interval, and generally experience other consequences of their behaviour - which is as it should be.

What prompted this post was the case of Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, a French “comedian” and rabble-rouser in the current European mould (see also Beppe Grillo in Italy). He has been saying thoroughly horrible and detestable things for more than a decade that I personally know, but recently there was a move to ban his show. This turned into a freedom of speech cause célèbre in France, which is still ongoing - yet another judicial pronouncement is expected today.

While I find his material execrable and indeed dangerous, I am not comfortable with banning his show. On the other hand, I would certainly like to see him frozen out of polite society, struggling - and failing - to get booked for shows, and so on. Instead, because the blunt instrument of the law has been invoked, he and his supporters have been able to confuse the issue and claim protection under the banner of freedom of speech.

Monsieur, you are free to speak your mind, and based on your speech, we are free to conclude that you are an ass.