Feelings Over Facts Is Dangerous to Human Liberty

 Feelings Over Facts Is Dangerous to Human Liberty

https://www.aier.org/article/feelings-over-facts-is-dangerous-to-human-liberty/

Excerpt: The book is centered around one quite ridiculous notion: that no difference exists ‒ neurologically ‒ between words and physical harm, that we’re constantly in a “nervous state,” not quite at war but never fully at peace. This seems odd and irrelevant for most things until we realize what Davies has taken aim at: the essence of the premise that supports Western liberal democracies. In a pop-culture phrase, it’s “Live and let live” ‒ or “You do you, girl,” while I do me (Legal scholars may recognize that same idea in “An Englishman’s home is his castle.”) Contrary to almost every civilization that came before it, the West’s legal and political foundation holds this to be true and has followed the ‘harm principle‘ of John Stuart Mill: “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.” With Nervous States, Davies has mobilized an ingenious challenge to this doctrine: if we redefine “harm” to mean whatever we want it to mean, we can rule over others. If your speech causes me discomfort, that’s harm. If your clothes offend me, that’s harm. If your moral or political opinions are different from mine, you’re harming both me and everyone else that I am angelically trying to help. If you’re objecting to my spending of the public money, you’re harming the people I say I intended to help. [Worth reading! It explains a lot of things we see and hear daily. Ron P.]