4 ms·

Why not jump off a bridge? After all, Newton's theory of gravitation is just a theory, and besides Einstein proved it's incomplete. The elite still pretends the

• feralimal 6y ago
  Here is the full quote. I think its even better: "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals."
  • pavlov 6y ago
    Is fact-checking tyranny? No.
    • sneak 6y ago
      People who wish it to be difficult for millions or billions to read anything they deem "false" is accurately described as "a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims".
    • smsm42 6y ago
      If the only information allowed is the one approved by designated "fact checkers" (the ideal most major social networks strive for, and most fact-checking enthusiasts would wholeheartedly approve) - it is the most complete example of tyranny (at least in the information space) possible. Of course, if fact checking merely exists as a set of opinions - it doesn't become tyrannical by itself. It's just an opinion of somebody on the question of what the facts are. But we all know it's not how it works. At least not how it works on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.
  • klyrs 6y ago
    This presumes that the robber baron has a conscience which perceives the suffering of an outgroup to be a bad thing.
    • deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    • MacsHeadroom 6y ago
      No, it explicitly doesn't. The implication is that the robber barons are pure self-interested evil. Self-interest means they aren't focused on you, as opposed to well intentioned self appointed saviors.
  • crocodiletears 6y ago
    Lewis's more philosophical works are massively underappreciated for how insightful, nuanced, and prescient they often were. If I were the kind of omnipotent moral busy-body he warns about, I'd swap every copy of 1984 in every primary school with a collection of his essays.
• throwaway201103 6y ago
  The difference is that Newton's theory of gravity comports with what every single person experiences in real life, in the same way. So nobody's really prone to believe it's some sort of hoax.
  • wincy 6y ago
    If we were all floating in zero gee in a giant space ship there would definitely be people arguing that it’s not real. I wonder if flat Earthers seriously argue against Newton’s theory of gravity?
    • throwaway201103 6y ago
      I don't know what flat earthers believe about gravity, but they do experience it the same as everyone else. They can drop an apple from height X and time how long it takes to hit the ground and come to the same conclusions as anyone else at least as far as the math is concerned.
    • patagurbon 6y ago
      They may not argue against the idea itself, but the flat Earth just doesn't make sense if you account for gravity.
• smsm42 6y ago
  It also has been the case that when somebody is going to subjugate you, one of the first things they'd try to do is to control your information intake. If they can define what is "fact" for you, the rest goes much easier - after all, if somebody resists accepting "facts", it is ok to force them to do what "factually" needs to be done, it's only for their own good - it's literally like saving somebody from jumping off a bridge. So if you put a couple of bruises on him or break an arm or a leg, it's still a good deed - after all, he was going to jump off a bridge, so he's better off alive, even with broken leg. As soon as you've given yourself an exclusive license to facts, violence against and subjugation of whoever disagrees with you happens very easily and very naturally.