Vitriol can irritate, but it is often the price of freewheeling discussion and the discovery of important stuff.

It is curious how people perceive platitudes and extremism on my part when I perceive the same thing in them. Schopenhauer said that extracting truth from oneself required putting one’s mind on a rack and subjecting it to relentless interrogation—so prone are we to delusion and denial. Of course, the ideologues know nothing of such anguish because they rarely leave the refuge of their own tightly held identities.

Bloggers are a force. The established order of politics (EOP) and the MSM face a big challenge from this fearless army.  Tragically, in some countries, the challenge is met by enforced silence.

Arash Sigarchi, a 28-year-old journalist in Iran, has been sentenced to fourteen years in prison for criticizing the regime in his blog. Yesterday, the Committee to Protect Bloggers declared a day of action to support imprisoned bloggers everywhere.

I join in. We really need a powerful effort to make sure everyone knows and no one forgets Arash Sigarchi.

Regardless of political difference, we know that officials love to silence critics—even kill or imprison them. Journalists, bloggers, whoever raises the questions, must be defended. Everywhere.

February 23, 2005 | Permalink

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Charlotte Laws Responds:

You sound like an ideologue on the topic of ideologues.

But not to criticize; I think you are brilliant and remarkably bold for embarking upon this risky "Sunshine blog" (a la Sunshine Law) enterprise. It's one thing to express ones views unilaterally on cable news with nothing more than a jab here and there from O'Reilly et al; it's quite another to risk bombardment and wounds by unknown discontents. If L.A.'s Mayor Hahn had this kind of courage, perhaps he would be doing better in the polls today.

My most recent column is titled "Patriots and Parrots: Imprisoning Tongues in America." I understand 242 journalists around the world have been jailed for their words. This may not be the case in America, but since 9/11, we have become a land of parrots, with only one politically correct line—a salute to the flag.

Thomas Jefferson said, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism," yet Ward Churchill, Bill Maher, the Dixie Chicks, etc. have been seen as traitors. Just as Arash Sigarchi, was silenced by prison walls, many in this country are silenced by a fear of retaliation, which necessarily leads to ubiquitous self-censorship. We need to keep the shelves stocked in the marketplace of ideas. Your blog helps with this.

I quarrel with the metaphor of Twain's mirror/Plato's cave/Schopenhauer's rack. It may make sense to examine ones essence and beliefs, but the exercise and outcome will necessarily be subjective. What is truth? If it includes the subjective, it if changes every split second, if it can never be accessed except by an omnipotent being, does it make sense to talk about it? Can we really extract truth or should we instead learn to live in a humble way, not judging or marginalizing others as extremists, etc.?

Anyway...the blog idea is great and 20,000 hits in six days is almost as impressive as the Megan's Law online database with 14 million hits in the first 96 hours.

If you get discouraged at any point, just remember what Charles Schultz said, "Once you're over the hill, you begin to pick up speed." (I'm not referring to your senior citizen status.)

Posted by: Charlotte | February 25, 2005 12:47 AM

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