Free Information versus Free Expression

Warnings

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Faré

Warnings
Table of Contents
Foreword

Freedom of Information versus Freedom of Expression

On the Nature of Freedom
On the Difference between Information and Hype

Foreword

I think one of the great lies of our time is journalists and other people controlling mass-media invoking a "right" to publish whatever they will. I am a fervent proponent of individual liberties, among which Freedom of Information, and I want to explain how I think these essential liberties (sometimes) oppose "Freedom of Expression".

I've begun writing this article on 1998-06-14...

Freedom of Information versus Freedom of Expression

On the Nature of Freedom

These days, people who have access to mass-media publishing often proudly invoke their "right" to broadcast whatever they will, in the name of "freedom of expression".

I loathe any claimed "right" to lie, or to publish rubbish. To do such things is to hinder and to waste the liberty of other people, and is so despicable as to deserve being fought with all of one's might, unless used in the extremities of self-defense against an even greater harm.

However, I also stringently deny to anyone the authority to universally judge in the name of others which assertions are true are false, what information is relevant or rubbish, and who is doing more good or harm than who else. Of course, there are cases when a judge was agreed upon in advance, such as in a dispute about implementation of some explicit written contract. And there are times when the civil order is at stake, and it is necessary for society that the case be settled, despite the impossibility of doing it with undisputable justice.

So the root of any "freedom of expression", much like that of any freedom, is not in the pride of claiming anyone's "right", but in the humility of acknowledging everyone's ignorance.

On the Difference between Information and Hype

TO BE CONTINUED...

Being ignorant is not knowing this difference.

FI is about improving the SNR (signal/noise ratio) by encouraging S. FE is about decreasing the SNR by encouraging N.