JULY 20, 2019 – In a vibrant democratic society, just as in every parent-child relationship, a tension exists between independent thought and the need to conform. On the surface—and in the mind of many-a-teenager—these two concepts seem inherently incompatible, but they are not. In a well-adjusted society/relationship, they are complementary.
I’ve written an entire screenplay about this. The central character is a dog, actually, but the story is really about the age-old conflict between father and son, between the dad saying, “Learn to think for yourself, son, not as everyone else would have you think,” and . . . adding, “but think just like me.”
In a democracy, same deal. We embrace free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment. Surely a sizable majority of Americans would answer “Yes,” to “Do you believe in “free speech”? However, proceed to, “Do you believe it’s okay to criticize the country, our government, or our president?” and I’m afraid far too many people would answer, “No!”
I’m thinking initially of those thousands of people who chanted nonsense at the latest Red Meat Rally in North Carolina. Those people, and many of their fellow Americans, left and right, are rabid fans of free speech—but only if it conforms to their views.
However, free speech is a cornerstone of American democracy not so we can entertain ourselves with trash talk or sing in unison at some “Rah, rah, rah!” political rally. Free speech is to allow people to speak up, to criticize, to question the way things are being done.
In my career as a manager inside a large bank, I learned fast how critical free speech was to the success of our business. I realized that if I surrounded myself only with “yes men,” we’d soon wind up in a ditch. I saw the importance of hiring a diverse lot of people and fostering conditions that encouraged them to speak up, criticize, and question the way things were being done. As people grew comfortable with this, they took more initiative and actively contributed new ideas and perspectives, all to the betterment of our group. And we stayed out of the ditch.
This effort was on a very small scale juxtaposed to society as a whole, but by this experience I learned how vital free speech is to the success of any organization–to a society. I learned that free speech leads to good governance, not the other way around.
And yet . . . and yet, there are limits to “doing/saying whatever the hell it is you want to do/say.” For starters, you can’t yell “Fire!” in a theater when there is no fire. To function successfully, any society requires a certain level of respect, order and cohesion, all of which require a degree of conformity to norms of behavior.
To make America greater than it is, I think we need on the one hand to understand better, “free speech” and on the other, the role of conformity. We then need to strive collectively for the best balance between the two.
© 2019 Eric Nilsson
