One thing, however, I know with certainty: violence, or the direct threat of violence, of the kind we have seen in the past few days, is totally unjustified as a response to any published word or image.
Timothy Garton AshRead
That said, the question remains: how to strike the balance between free speech and mutual respect in this mixed-up world, both blessed and cursed with instant communication? We should not fight fire with fire, threats with threats.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote addresses the challenge of balancing free speech with respect for others in a world dominated by rapid communication.
In the context of our modern society, where communication occurs instantly and widely, the quote emphasizes the importance of finding a middle ground between exercising the right to free speech and maintaining mutual respect. It suggests that responding to hostility with hostility only escalates conflicts and implies that a more thoughtful, respectful approach is needed to navigate disagreements and differing opinions.
Themes
Free SpeechRespectCommunicationBalanceConflict
In practice
Example use cases
During a panel discussion on civil discourse, one might invoke this quote to emphasize the need for respectful dialogue.
More from Timothy Garton Ash
All quotes →Developments in information technology and globalised media mean that the most powerful military in the history of the world can lose a war, not on the battlefield of dust and blood, but on the battlefield of world opinion.
Timothy Garton AshRead
Similar quotes
Laws change more slowly than custom, and though dangerous when they fall behind the times are more dangerous still when they presume to anticipate custom.
Marguerite YourcenarRead
Given the sin of impiety through which they [the Romans] sinned against the divine nature [by idolatry], the punishment that led them to sin against their own nature followed.... I say, therefore, that since they changed into lies [by idolatry] the truth about God, He brought them to ignominious passions, that is, to sins against nature; not that God led them to evil, but only that he abandoned them to evil.
Thomas AquinasRead
I know some of my memories are made up and they are far more powerful than the things that actually happened. For example, I always remember my brother posting me a copy of 'Dubliners' from Africa, but he says he never did.
John BanvilleRead
By helping readers understand these mechanics, I hope they will appreciate why freedom is for everyone, why it is essential for our security and why the free world plays a critically important role in advancing democracy around the globe.
Natan SharanskyRead
One is often told that it is a very wrong thing to attack religion, because religion makes men virtuous. So I am told; I have not noticed it.
Bertrand RussellRead
The more we study the major problems of our time, the more we come to realise that they cannot be understood in isolation. They are systemic problems, which means that they are interconnected and interdependent.
Fritjof CapraRead