Our loss of confidence in the power of disapproval

 We don’t have to punish an infraction: we can always disapprove. In America, a litigious society since its founding, one of the unhappiest developments of the past two generations has been the loss of confidence in the power of disapproval. The fear is that disapproval won’t suffice until you press your claim to the point of litigation and a threat of punishment – a change that was already far along before the internet made things worse.

What happens around political correctness is that questionable opinions that never get debated, for debate must never erupt into acrimony; but this enforced PC of equability has its own drawbacks. Witness the populist rise throughout Europe

Asked in a late interview how he fell away from his belief in Catholic doctrine, Graham Greene said he had been converted by arguments and he had forgotten the arguments. 

Something like this has happened to left liberals where freedom of speech is concerned. The last two generations were brought to see its value by arguments, and they have forgotten the arguments. Few have felt oppressed by the rigours of censorship; more have been interested in censoring harmful speech by politicians or members of the ‘dominant culture’  

Free speech of late has taken a very ominous turn. People know that their words are monitored, beyond their power to calibrate, and the respectable are more cautious than ever before. They take great care not to speak bluntly.

For it they do....not only can you not talk about 'it', you are not legally permitted to talk about 'it'.