Sometimes it's best to speak from ignorance: that way, you can see the wood without being distracted by the trees.
Howard JacobsonRead
It isn't only in the name of free speech that the views of an itchy polemicist should be tolerated - and I say itchy polemicist promoting thought, not itchy ideologue promoting violence - but because provocation is indispensable to the workings of a sound, creative culture.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Free speech includes tolerating diverse viewpoints, even provocative ones, as they are essential for a vibrant culture.
Howard Jacobson emphasizes the importance of tolerating provocative opinions in the realm of free speech. He differentiates between an 'itchy polemicist'—someone who challenges conventional thinking—and an 'itchy ideologue'—who promotes violence. Jacobson argues that such provocations are necessary for fostering creativity and a healthy culture, implying that without diverse and sometimes uncomfortable perspectives, cultural development would stagnate.
Themes
Free SpeechProvocationCultureCreativityTolerance
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion on the importance of tolerance in free speech during a university lecture.
More from Howard Jacobson
All quotes →I think one of the main reasons I write is to do better than ranting. The ranting is the opinion, and the writing is not the opinion. I always say that people's opinions are the worst things about them. The words demand a dignity.
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How do you explain to somebody who doesn't understand that you don't build a library to read. A library is a resource. Something you go to, for reference, as and when. But also something you simply look at, because it gives you succour, answers to some idea of who you are or, more to the point, who you would like to be, who you will be once you own every book you need to own.
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It is no judgement of a thing outside yourself to say it makes you ill. The wise reader knows that every pronouncement is, to some degree, an act of self-exposure; the book you find too challenging might only show how ill-equipped you are to face its challenge.
Howard JacobsonRead
In my experience, every book you write changes the conditions in which you write the next.
Howard JacobsonRead
For a lot of readers these days, a book is something you have to agree or disagree with. But you can't agree with a novel. For my generation, it was assumed that a book is a dramatic thing, that the eye of the book is not telling you what to think.
Howard JacobsonRead
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