Good Ideas Might Set A Bad Precedent

In a world of modern technology, instant and infinite information, and more connection to each other than ever before, we have a front row seat to inventions, ideas, developments, and opinions that no previous generation has ever been afforded. The world is so much more connected now than ever before that there’s almost no excuse to live in echo chambers or remain in the dark on certain topics.

That said, with such an endless stream of information, it’s also difficult to ascertain what’s legitimate, what might be exaggerated or anecdotal, or even pure propaganda. Parsing information takes more time and effort nowadays because everyone can have an opinion instantly shared with the world. While that in and of itself is a beautiful concept, some opinions or ideas might be misguided, misdirected, or uninformed, while also not being objectively right or wrong. If an opinion was objective, then it would fit the binary form of truth or fiction. Therefore, no matter how egregious or baseless an opinion might be, it cannot, by virtue of itself, be wrong or right.

This concept segues into new ideas and plans for our future, either on the global scale or just what happens in your neighborhood. Again, combing through information is much more difficult and time-consuming since we not only live in a world of sensationalist media, but we also have access to opinions we might not have ever considered or imagined.

With all this said, it’s important to note that while some ideas are truly wellintended with no ulterior motives, there might be an unspoken or unintentional precedent being set on which future generations will be keen to capitalize. The altruism of today can easily become the nightmare of tomorrow.

This week, Suffolk County announced that the 311 call center typically used for county information and non-emergency situations can now be used to report antisemitic incidents and acts. Calls are placed anonymously and the data will be logged with the county’s hate crime unit and police department to determine the best path forward for the case, which may or may not include further investigation or even legal action.

The objective of the county is to prevent small, seemingly-innocuous acts, such as insensitive jokes, imitations, or use of offensive symbols, from gradually becoming more dangerous or even violent acts in the future. County Executive Steve Bellone said that connection is “logical” and the county acknowledges those small acts might be more ignorant or uninformed rather than malicious or intentionally harmful. Exact data was not produced at request.

We certainly believe no one should have to face discrimination based on race, religion, or other similar characteristics, and we certainly do not think that the county’s effort is based on micro-managing individuals’ thoughts and beliefs for the sake of itself. However, we would like to express a healthy amount of caution as to what precedent this agenda could set.

The United States is a unique country in that the First Amendment protects almost all forms of speech, including hate speech. While this does not make hate speech morally correct, it puts a check on the government’s ability to enforce laws against those who voice opinions, which, again, are not objectively right or wrong, no matter how reprehensible they might seem. Of course, this does not account for immediate rules, such as workplace codes of conduct, which are perfectly acceptable and logical.

The same cannot be said for the United Kingdom or Australia. Under Part 3 of the United Kingdom’s Public Order Act of 1986, when “expressions of racial hatred, which is defined as hatred against a group of persons by reason of the group’s colour, race, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origins,” are conducted by person who knowingly “uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting,” to do such things, the maximum penalty is seven years imprisonment, a fine, or both.

Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act of 1975 makes it “unlawful for a person to do an act, otherwise than in private, if the act is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people; and the act is done because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the other person, or of some or all of the people in the group,” and even has provisions for offenses committed over the Internet.

While Suffolk County’s antisemitic task force means well, exact punishments for reported hate speech were not properly defined and will likely be developed after the program fields a respectable amount of data. Officials did say that county resources would be used to track incidents. Even with the laudable goal of preventing larger, more dangerous offenses, Suffolk residents can report each other and likely see their behavior become tracked.

The point is: we would caution the county to put checks on their power to ensure it does not become a de facto speech police or thought police.

Again, The Messenger does not condone any forms of hate or discrimination, but we would caution the government’s position in policing expression.

You Are Not On Your Own

A large aspect of today’s world is living in a nearconstant state of fear and anxiety. Unnecessarily amplified by technology’s unrealistic demands of having us instantly accessible all hours of the day, it’s unfortunately complemented by a world of business, politics, and media that runs on fear and panic. There’s so much more positive news in the world than meets the eye and it’s because our world is run by people who rather that news not meet our eyes.

Instead, the plan is to keep everyone in a constant state of crippling fear and anxiety, which breeds depression, anger, paranoia, and burnout. As governments, corporations, and celebrities try to be the touchstones for morals, ethics, and best social practice, we stray further from an objective truth. As information becomes more accessible and as opinions become more ubiquitous, it’s often difficult to know what’s “right” and what’s “wrong,” especially since mass preference can change on a dime. This type of moral relativism that changes with the times cannot possibly foster a smart and stable society.

That is not the world that was designed for us and that is not the world we should be leaving for our generation.

It almost seems that there is too much confusion as to why our kids are more anxious and hopeless than the kids of generations passed. It makes much more sense when children are raised by computer screens, sometimes in broken homes. It makes sense when we teach our children to hate themselves, hate their country, and hate everything that the future holds, but it ultimately does not matter because the world will end in ten years. It makes sense when we teach our children that the same forms of social sectionalism we fought to upend just fifty years ago are now preferred by some in the upper echelons of society.

It makes sense, ultimately, when we rely on ourselves. A compass cannot point to itself for guidance, a map cannot route to itself for directions. If we subjectively define our own truths based on what “feels right” or is deemed acceptable, then the truths of today become hearsay tomorrow. That’s always how it has been. Four hundred years ago, the practice of slavery was viewed by many as perfectly fine and even customary. Now, we couldn’t imagine a world in which the slave trade endures - it does, those same aforementioned powers would prefer you don’t know about it. In the same way, our virtues of today may possibly be criticized by our descendants.

Seeking a higher power, a divine, intelligent, mediator who created you with a purpose and this world with a plan is much easier than leaving it all up to chance, that everything came from nothing, and that order followed chaos. Even if those two points are true, the world still feels hopeless and pointless.

Government can try to play God, but they cannot be God. For them, as long as you don’t know the difference, they can laugh all the way to their thrones in Switzerland at the World Economic Forum (WEF).

For those who acknowledge that government can never be their God, they can find peace at home in Coram, or maybe Nesconset, and cast aside the corruption and superficiality of today’s world.