I am intrigued by my readers’ choice of blog posts. Heidegger and Schrödinger have been popular over the years and stirred me to write a fictional account of their cats’ lives during the Nazi era.
Albert Camus is a rich source of quotations. I posted a blog about his proposal that integrity has no need of rules, and it has been a popular blog post.
That ideal of a quality so pure that you do not have to constrain it, is problematic. If I live solely by my own lights I risk offending others. Some might say that giving offence is no reason to change one’s behaviour, if one acts with integrity.
I’m not so sure. A bit of give and take is the best way to keep the peace. If everyone digs their heels in and refuses to bend on every occasion, no matter how little the cost, you have the setting for everyone being offended. You only have to skim the comments on social media to see how quickly offensive remarks are exchanged.
What about the freedom to express ideas and opinions? Are all freedoms absolute? If a film, book, newspaper article, cartoon or blog contains material that is offensive to one section of society, how should we respond? There are laws against hate speech, so why should the haters have the satisfaction of seeing how offensive their comments have been?
The alternative response adopted by some people who have been trolled, is to seek out the individual who has made their life miserable and expose them. Anonymity is the shield most haters hide behind. But it takes a brave person to confront the weirdo who has spewed their filth onto the internet.
If the writer, blogger or film maker has integrity and has not expressed hatred, perhaps the reader or viewer should show equal integrity in accepting the diversity of our cultures, opinions and moral positions.
Perhaps the message about integrity is more about the aspirations and character of the individual. If we develop as caring human beings with a set of humanitarian principles we try to live by, there would be no need for external regulation governing our actions.
Here’s another quote from the great writer who died too young “We all carry within us places of exile, our crimes, our ravages. Our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to transform them in ourselves and others.“
odespinner 