Freedom of Speech, up to a Point - The Donella Meadows Project

So who should be the censor? It certainly shouldn’t be any single individual. It shouldn’t a government, nor a church, nor publishers, nor writers’ associations, nor any institution with a vested interest (which rules out all institutions). The only entity I’m willing to trust with the critical judgement of public words is the public as a whole, just as the First Amendment says. But I’d like to do much more to empower all members of that public both to choose what they hear and to understand their responsibilities when they speak out. I’d like children to be raised not only hearing about freedom of expression, but understanding the social consequences of that expression. I’d like them to be awash not in mindless media outpourings, but in wonderful examples of precise, considered, socially uplifting words. I wouldn’t prohibit them from encountering any publication, but I would do everything in my power to encourage them to judge publications and to close pages, turn dials, and eliminate destructive speech by the most powerful means possible — their own refusal to give it their attention.