I watched a short clip of autocratic billionaire Elon Musk talking about freedom of speech, and, presumably, why it is important to protect lying, even inflammatory, speech as vigilantly as truthful speech. The First Amendment is sacred to Musk, he claims, in much the way the Second Amendment is probably sacred to him. Freedom of Speech, to most billionaires, is directly related to any speech necessary to protect them from taxation or regulation of their businesses, both of which are forms of inhuman tyranny.

Shouting fire in a crowded theatre, when there is no fire, is prohibited speech. Shouting “child molester!” while gesturing desperately toward a man with a child (who may be his own kid) to a crowd of drunken people with guns is similar. Shouting “Stolen Election!” after your own experts have all told you there was no widespread fraud found is the same thing. So is “Mask Mandates are Auschwitz!!!” and any number of rallying cries that excite volatile mobs of otherwise decent people who are well beyond the reach of critical thinking.

If this kind of panic/rage-inciting speech remains unregulated, freedom of thought begins to disappear. All discussion is reduced to an idiotic “true or false” test with reflexive answers from each of only two sides. There is only “right” and “wrong” in a world deliberately and systematically drained of nuance. Protecting incendiary lies is a direct road to mass idiocy, which is always beneficial to would-be tyrants.

For those who believe they are more important than everybody else, it is crucial to establish “freedom of thought” that aligns with their needs. To my great horror, I’ve experienced this in my personal life, in a grotesque mirroring of MAGA-mania. In the face of damaging lies about my character, evidence becomes as irrelevant as common sense. The question is not “did this person ever show signs of being a sadist, a brute, a bully, a liar, someone who cannot forgive, no matter how people beg him for mercy?”. Those questions are wiped away by an emotional stance, taken to remain united with others who share your love and views of right and wrong.

That the smartest and most sensitive of people will sometimes embrace these ill-intended fabrications is one of the great tragedies of our world. Every lynch mob in history has rushed forward convinced of the righteousness of their mission. That the occasional highly evolved person will sometimes see the point of the mob, or at least profess to take no side, is one of the hardest things in the world to swallow, for a sadistic, insanely vengeful asshole like me, anyway.