1083
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
1083 points (91.8% liked)
Showerthoughts
28844 readers
900 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- Posts must be original/unique
- Be good to others - no bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
"By a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak." - Umberto Eco
“If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize”
— Voltaire
"Children with cancer rule the world "
I don't think that holds true quite as much today as it did back when Voltaire said it. He was calling out authoritarian structures like the christian church if I remember correctly. While certainly still true in totalitarian systems like dictatorships, it's a somewhat different situation in democracies for example. In a democracy you are generally allowed to criticize anyone. However, powerful entities like big corporations and the very rich might still abuse the system to sue you into oblivion.
Also this quote gets misused quite often by people who do not understand the difference between hate speech and criticism and by people who think being called out and criticized for their words is the same as being "not allowed to criticized" or silenced.