3 ms·
We won't lose the right, period. It cannot be lost. Only the power to exercise it can be lost. It's true that people are increasingly eager to infringe the r
by apotheon 6y ago
We won't lose the right, period. It cannot be lost. Only the power to exercise it can be lost.
It's true that people are increasingly eager to infringe the right to express oneself freely by using government to curtail the power to exercise that right. It is true that exercising the right responsibly is important -- because failing to do so involves infringing other rights.
In short, there is good reason to differentiate between rights and powers, even though they may apply to the same things. The right is a matter of ethics, and any system of universal ethics doesn't change because of how people behave. The power to exercise a right is subject to social order, and if that power is curtailed the social order is, in that respect, unethical -- but how people behave may change the likelihood of the social order to change in that manner.