(Written while blocked on Facebook, January 7th, 2016, the one year anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack.)
Liberalism is founded on two major principles – liberty and equality. The former is stressed in what is known as classical liberalism and the later in what is known a social liberalism. But both are indispensable to liberalism. These two basic principles can be subdivided to include the principles of freedom of expression, civil rights, equality of the sexes and all colors and creeds, a free market, freedom of religion, democracy, secularism, international cooperation, non-violence and peace.
Obviously, freedom of expression includes freedom of speech, the press, artistic expression and, most importantly, the freedom to say that which some want to take away your right to say.
Liberty also includes a woman’s right to choose, freedom of religion, freedom from religion (secularism), and of course liberty includes civil rights.
Civil rights ties in with the other core liberal principle – equality. This includes equality of the sexes, genders, ethnicity, sexual orientation and so on.
With the liberal principles of secularism and freedom of expression, any limits on freedom of expression by religion is in direct opposition to liberal principles. In other words, one can tell jokes about Jesus, criticize Judaism and draw Mohamed while having the right to be free from violence or legal repercussions. This also means that the hate speech in the Torah, Bible and Quran is permitted in liberalism under the principle of freedom of expression. In fact, the very idea of curbing freedom of expression by labeling some of it “hate speech” is entirely against liberal principles. Giving special treatment to one particular religion; for example, shielding it from criticism more than others, is also against the liberal principles of equality and secularism.
Under the principle of equality, of course, comes an opposition to racism, sexism, ageism, and other forms of bigotry. This includes the soft bigotry of low expectations. This means that holding some groups of people to a different set of standards of ethics and acceptable behavior than others, even the intent is to defend them, is iniquity (supporting inequality) and bigotry. There is no room for this in liberalism under the core principle of equality.
The regressive left is a straying away from or betrayal of one or more of these principles. Having a bias for one group over an other group is not liberal, it is against liberalism. Arguing that speech that offends some people should be banned is not liberal, it is against liberalism. Arguing that a group of people should be held to a different set of ethics is not liberal. It is against liberalism. Often people have the misconception that cultural relativism means that ethical relativism. These are two different things. Ethics such as the liberal principle of non violence dictates that violence is not accepted from or within any culture or group. Similarly, inequality is unacceptable in any culture. These ethics and principles are universal and non negotiable. Similarly, basic concepts of consensual and non-consensual sex and what constitutes sexual harassment, rape, marital rape and so on are also universal and apply to all.
If one understand basic liberal principles, one can better identify and correct regressive left tendencies.
Postscript
On the one year anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack, PEN International states, “Under international law, the right to freedom of expression also protects speech that some may find shocking, offensive or disturbing. Importantly, the right to freedom of expression means that those who feel offended also have the right to challenge others through free debate and open discussion, or through peaceful protest.” (3).
Justin Trouble, September 1, 2016
(1) References;
Donohue, Kathleen G. (19 December 2003). Freedom from Want: American Liberalism and the Idea of the Consumer (New Studies in American Intellectual and Cultural History). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9780801874260.
Firmage, Weiss and Welch (1990). Religion and Law: Biblical-Judaic and Islamic Perspectives. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9780931464393.
John Joseph Lalor (1883). Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and of the Political History of the United States. Nabu Press.
Liberal International (1997) “The Liberal Agenda for the 21st Century”. Retrieved 7 January 2016. http://www.liberal-international.org/editorial.asp?ia_id=537
Nader Hashemi (11 March 2009). Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199717514. “Liberal democracy requires a form of secularism to sustain itself”
Wolin, Sehldon S. (2004). Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691119779.
(2) Reference;
Young, Shaun (2002). Beyond Rawls: An Analysis of the Concept of Political Liberalism. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. ISBN 0-7618-2240-2.
(3) Reference;
PEN International (2016). On the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack, dissenting voices must be protected. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016. http://www.pen-international.org/newsitems/anniversary-charlie-hebdo/
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