Every right in a reasonable society balanced by responsibility
Re: It takes more than words to support free speech — April 28
Talking cheaply is certainly getting some play of late. Some folks are saying hurt feelings matter. Others are speaking to the importance of saying. A balance is needed.
Perhaps giving the situation a rights and responsibility analysis might clarify. Most people would consider free speech a right. Every right in a reasonable society is balanced by a responsibility.
For example, the right to vote is balanced by the responsibility to vote. The right of speech then (it is inherently free at its inception, i.e. thought) is balanced by the responsibility of preventing harm by its utterance.
Recently, my alma mater Wilfrid Laurier University has been having some difficulty in this area. Lindsay Shepherd, a student and employee, taught a tutorial in a fashion that was unpopular with her boss (professor) and others. She was summarily disciplined in what some have labelled a “star chamber.”
Students and employees share the need to be instructed and directed. It would appear in this circumstance something was lacking. Shepherd’s lack of instruction and direction realized an unwanted outcome, as evidenced by the reaction.
The public take on all of this is interesting. The university has taken criticism from those that feel that any censorship is troubling and hurt feelings are some kind of “suck it up, buttercup” weakness.
The university down the street (University of Waterloo) is under some fire for charging Ms. Shepherd and company a user fee for the security charges that the appearance of their designated “free speaker” would incur.
We are taught that the Second World War (that most unambiguous of moral conflicts) was fought for freedom. The Nazi Germans, fascists, controllers, murderers needed to to be stopped. They were, but at a terrible price that we remember every Nov. 11. Is it any wonder then, that those who espouse similar views, must accept the responsibility? John Kolb Waterloo