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Entry: Free Speech and Filters Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/free_speech_and_filters#1293 Post contents: Mr Blalock wrote: "The solution to both the TV and Radio “dilemma,” (as I see it) is to simply provide the public with MORE choice." No. That doesn't solve any problem; it just reasserts the problem, UNLESS one believes, as the most crude, most superstitious kinds of nominal "Libertarians" do, that Humans tend to make "rational" choices and that more liberty inevitably leads to better quality and better choices. But no, that's just not how Humans tend to behave. If there is any general rule of Human behaviour, it's a rule of willful stupidity and wilfully evil choices. (And Christ BROKE that "rule" of fallen Human nature, or so Christians believe, except for the heretics among us like the neocons and free-market-fundamentalists.) For thousands of years, History has proved - almost like a scientific law - that Humans tend to abuse their liberties more often than they use liberty for good purposes. Again, Christ and what he personified is an EXTRAordinary EXCEPTION to that dreadful old "rule" of Willful Human Stupidity. Even the most saintly of Humans cannot be relied upon to behave as truthfully, or even as practically and sensibly, as Christ did. Hell, even my hero, Pope John Paul the Great, was wilfully stupid about some things, and he was at the highest end of the intellectual AND moral bell curve. If we can't even trust geniuses and borderline Saints like Pope John Paul II always to make the right choices, then how the HELL can we trust the masses to do so? Thus, by positing more "choices" for the masses, we're not solving the essential problem of Human Nature. We're merely reasserting it. I think the main point of Mr Weyrich's article, was to provoke us to reconsider the complexities of this problem. On the one hand, Humans do need SOME kind of moral and even intellectual authority. On the other hand, it would be a mistake to delegate too much intellectual authority (or ANY moral authority) to any temporal government. There is no easy answer to this problem, but the best clue we have is from Jesus who said, "My Kingdom is not of this world." Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but be very wary of rendering any moral authority AT ALL to Caesar. Sent at: 2009 01 07