Do you have psychic powers


A Civil Society Bill of Rights

I reserve the right to be opinionated,on everything.
to speak, to strongly hold ideas, idealsAnd I freely extend the same right to
or ideologies, and to advocate them.you.
I reserve the right to make truth***
claims, to hold positions even if othersSomewhere, sometime, someone decided
may take offense. But I will not abusethat public debate and politics meant
others.you had to assert you knew everything,
I reserve the right to be idealistic,that your worldview had to be simple,
optimistic, not cynical or jaded, norcomplete and perfectly ordered, and that
comfortably relativistic or postmodern.everything your opponents thought and
Others are free to be any of these.said was just spin and lies. Well the
I reserve the right to believe in thingsworld is not simple, and my views on it
for which there is more hope thanare not simple either. I am passionate
evidence.about some things, interested in many
I reserve the right to be wrong.things, and often ambivalent or
I reserve the right to experiment withconflicted over other things. It is a
ideas that I am not sure about. Ishame that more of our public figures do
reserve the right to more stronglynot freely assert the right to change
advocate ideas than I actually feel.their minds, to disagree respectfully,
I reserve the right to change my mind asto sometimes be wrong, or to sometimes
the world changes.be silent. Silence from pundits and
I reserve the right to hold ambiguous,politicians - wouldn't that be a change!
complex and sometimes contradictoryThis bill of rights is fundamentally
ideas or ideals in complicatedabout the purposes of civil society and
circumstances. I have not figuredcivil discourse and public debate. You
everything out; I never will.would probably write a slightly
I reserve the right to advocate policiesdifferent set of rights for yourself in
in one time or situation, and opposeorder to frame, develop and express your
similar policies in other times orideas. But that is exactly the point. We
situations, especially if those policiesmay all speak. By speaking and writing
- upon testing them - turn out to beand publishing, we grapple with the
ineffective or damaging.world and its knotted problems. If the
I reserve the right to compromise toworld's problems were simple, then smart
achieve good, but not perfect, solutionspeople would have solved them a long
to bad problems.time ago. The world's problems,
I reserve the right to hold ideas thatconflicts and tragedies are fraught with
do not fit orthodox ideological molds. Iambiguity and differing perspectives.
refuse to be defined by others'The power of civil society is the
categories or philosophies or terms.democratic power of multitudes speaking,
I reserve the right to be a hypocrite -discussing, testing and trying ideas. As
if what you mean by hypocrisy is toone set of policies proves itself less
really believe in something and advocateeffective, we try others. Some of the
it, but not always be able to live up toproposed ideas, policies or solutions
it.are bound to be wrong-headed, or
I reserve the right to disagree withfoolish, or just not work. In that case
you, to disagree with my friends, toI hope I will disagree. If they were my
disagree with anyone (maybe even myselfideas, my speech, or my advocacy, then I
in part). I reserve the right to voicetake responsibility for them. Then I may
that disagreement openly, butadmit I was wrong and change my mind. In
respectfully, by speaking energetically,many cases, we will simply have to
incisively, sometimes passionately, butdisagree.
not abusively.I reserve the right to have opinions and
I reserve the right to sometimes bepassionately advocate them, to believe
silent - to not have an opinion or anin idealistic positions, to sometimes be
answer, to not advocate a position, towrong, to change my mind, to compromise,
not define myself, to not assertto disagree with others, and to
expertise. I am not obliged to weigh insometimes be silent.



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