@philosophyminis: Is democracy actually that good? Is free speech important? Does a human life really matter that much? It might be that you have answers to these questions, but according to J.S. Mill, until you actually pause to answer them, they are just ‘dead dogma.’ Every society inherits its beliefs. We are taught by our parents and schools to believe certain things, and these form an unquestioned background to everyday life. Things like: be polite, don't get angry, respect everybody regardless of who they are. According to Mill, if we don't revisit and reappraise these beliefs from time to time, and they will fall into what he calls dead dogma. If we do not debate them, we will not see if they are worth anything or not, and we will not defend things that we cannot find the value in. If nobody makes the case for toleration, free speech, the value of human life, then nobody will bother to stand up for them. And so, these assumptions linger on like some forgotten, irrelevant background feature, and they will disappear without a fuss or a fight. So we need to welcome rival opinions. We need to welcome debate, dissent, and argument. We need to test the worth of our beliefs. Because if we test them, and we find that they cannot withstand any opposition whatsoever, the chances are that those beliefs weren't worth holding in the first place.

Jonny Thomson

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Saturday 15 August 2026 14:50:51 GMT

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Comments

Fr :

unfortunately these days if you have a contrary opinion to the consensus you're labelled a Nazi and told your opinion is not worthy and ostracised.

2026-08-15 16:46:16

The One They Call Scott 🇨🇦 :

free speech in 🇨🇦 is an illusion

2026-08-15 14:55:59

hobbs :

Society is drowning in dogma. Maybe the very idea of society is dogma. Oh la la.

2026-08-15 15:03:52

🪼🐋🔮🌊 :

I think humans are smarter than we actually think and won’t descend into madness if things are left undebated. You might argue if we don’t debate democracy then how can we make a case for it. But do we need to make a case for not living in a mud hut? Humans instinctively know what’s good for them on a baseline biological level

2026-08-15 15:32:03

369 :

it's not dogma.

2026-08-15 20:14:49

Nalber3 :

Accepting or even contemplating that you might be wrong is terrifying for most people because of all the uncertainty that it implies, yet, it is the most healthy thing we can do.

2026-08-15 22:41:34

Unc Tee :

No/Yes/No.

2026-08-16 03:32:50

👻🐝 LuCaS V E R S A C E :

My opinion apparently doesn’t matter

2026-08-16 00:09:32

Mikko Luomala, varavaltuutettu :

This is true.

2026-08-15 15:18:13

Ozo Bobo :

Message received and understood

2026-08-15 22:57:13

φοῖνιξ phoinix :

as one who experienced both communism (no free speech allowed) and democracy (free speech allowed), I prefer the latter

2026-08-15 15:04:17

Keyline :

free speech was good back when their were consequences for your actions. now people use free speech just to cause the most hurt possible.

2026-08-15 15:22:13

wdw simba117 :

Democracy is an illusion.....the illusion of choice .....Free Speech is also an illusion .....Democracy isn't the best.....but it's the best we have ....but it's been twisted into a demagoguery to benefit those at the perceived top of the structure

2026-08-15 17:31:37

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