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Australia goes down the toilet! 23-Aug-2010 At 12:59:53 AM dave h.

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JS Mill's classic "On Liberty", in 3 easy sentences for climbers.

Freedom means you get to make your own choices about things which concern you, and that other people (including society at large) is allowed to judge and criticise you for the choices you make. Legal intervention is justified if you start to directly harm someone else, but not otherwise. Free speech (including that of the fringe loonies) is good because the discomfort it induces paradoxically causes us to re-examine our own views, and often strengthens the conviction with which we hold them.

Neil, with respect I think your post is naive and reflects a pluralistic world-view (which most others here would share I'd guess) in which everyone accepts/tolerates any action so long as it doesn't harm anyone. I think that becomes problematic when you start to expand the meaning of toleration or acceptance to the point where A cannot make a moral judgement about the actions of B and express them publicly without being criticised as prejudiced or ignorant. The criticism (prejudice/ignorance) is not the problem - what is problematic is the worldview which does not allow for any individual freedom of conscience to make moral judgements which differ from those of the majority.

Note that I'm not saying that Phil's comments qualify as a moral judgement. Not every 'moralistic judgement' should be accorded the respect we give to moral judgements (which are personal views on what is right and what is wrong which are supported by reasons. These reasons need not be accepted by everyone but they must be more than mere prejudice, rationalisation, parroted garbage, etc).

(edited for clarity / emphasis/1am typos)