
You do not have to genuflect to a belief you do not hold, or a cause which you see differently from its supporters, or use any formula of words that fashion or social pressure insist you must.
The right to your own opinion is the basic molecule of human dignity, as it is the basic molecule of a true democracy. A crowd is not a court, and a mob has no conscience. We have evolved institutions and codes that for generations have been the bedrock of social cohesion and general harmony.
For centuries we have revered the “rule of law” as the central idea of just governance. We have the rule of law not so much to protect us from malign outsiders, but to protect us from ourselves in those moments when passion overrules reason, when from within a society force is threatened to achieve political or other aims. We also maintain the rule of law to be the chain fence guarding each individual’s precious equality with all other citizens. And perhaps equally important, the rule of law protects each citizen’s right to be unmolested by the state power, and shielded from the sudden gusts of irrationality which, in moments of crisis or unrest, are liable to visit any and every society.
These understandings have been the guarantors of our security, our progress and our social cohesion for a very long time. Yet, though these truths are old and proven, they are under challenge, even threat, in this new and hectic world of protest, riot, online denunciation, and uncertain, weak or absent leadership. If I were in a Yeatsian mood I’d cite “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;” but I am not there yet. (Though it is clear Yeats loved his semicolons.)
The ideas contained in this little prelude have been expressed so many times before, and far better than here, so it might be wondered why reiterate what everyone knew and solidly agreed with. Until yesterday that is, or what seems like yesterday anyway. For recently these shared and proven axioms have come under radical assault, civic harmony put under serious strain.
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