Dr Seuss, who was right about pretty much everything, had a marvellous take on speaking one's mind:
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind”.
Take a moment to read those words. Go on, read them again. Now pick them up and feel their weight. But make sure you put them down gently, because they form the cornerstone of one of the great tenets of a democratic society – freedom of expression. They're what motivate the millions upon millions of bloggers, social commentators, tweeters and those who call it like it is, to bear their souls every day across this amazing globe of ours. It's what ordinary citizens in Egypt, Syria and countless other despotic regimes wish they could do; we honour their spirit when we make liberal use of our ability to speak freely and without censorship.
Theodore Seuss Geisel may have been a philandering old bastard, but he was also one smart cookie...
No comments:
Post a Comment