Ethics of Free Speech and the Internet

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."

-- Eleanor Roosevelt

While I am ambivalent or even a little wary of our constitutional right to bear arms, I am a big fan of Free Speech. Eminem, Sarah Palin, and Sean Penn…. It doesn’t matter who you are, you can say whatever you want. Explaining the concept to a teenager in Pakistan made me acutely aware of how deeply embedded it is in our culture. I believe our world has become tainted by bitter, ugly debate; all made acceptable because it is our inalienable right to do so. What I have noticed lately is the role the internet plays in this Free Speech free-for-all. I don’t want to step on anyone’s right to elocute and I’m not preaching about political correctness – just manners. Ethics. Think about it. As climbers, we embody the American expression of the right to live as we please - weekend warriors and full-time dirtbags alike. It is our form of 'the pursuit of happiness.’ In this pursuit, we are shaped by ethics – whether or not to bolt a route originally put up on gear (Mighty Aphrodite), using heel spurs or not (insert steep mixed route of choice), using bolts to ascend when maybe you just shouldn't be on top in the first place (Compressor Route), breathing supplemental oxygen (any 8000m peak)... the list is endless. So why not apply a little of this self-regulation to how we treat each other as fellow Americans, as human beings? Take, for example, emails (that often begin with fw: fw: fw:) that spew apocalyptic, factually-suspect venom out to any and all who are willing to scroll down far enough to read it. A couple examples from a recent email in my inbox (titled ‘Obituary’... as in Obituary of America): If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years. Little known fact, Obama only won 19 states in the 2008 election. The first statement may ostensibly be about an immigration; but the statement makes an emotional argument that is more about fear and bullying than discourse. Personally, I get stuck on the poor taste and lack of compassion, but I suppose that’s my bias – we all have one, you know (but unless you live on a reservation, your ancestors were immigrants at some point, too). And the second? IMO, it isn’t about anything. It is noise. Seriously, what purpose does it serve to circulate obviously factually incorrect statements about an undisputed election a year later? (Turns out, it is rehashed from 2000, only the Montagues and Capulets have traded costumes. With this context, it made a lot more sense to me. Remember 2000? Hanging chads? Florida?) So now I find myself in a plagiarized, re-imagined debate that is totally irrelevant in the context of our current politics? (unless I'm missing something) Really? Are we itching for a fight that bad? The internet is powerful; but it's important to see the differences with this medium than say, the dinner table. Consider this as you engage in email 'debate.' Email does not stimulate collaboration and discussion; it is a soap box. Before you send (or worse, forward) that next email, take some ownership of what you pass along. These statements become yours once your name is at the top of the list. Maybe ask yourself the following: Did you really read it? (if you want me to read it, I expect you have, too) Did you fact check it? (Google is your friend) What is your intention with sending it on? (do you want to piss me off?) What is the likely effect of sending it on? (regardless of your intentions) Would you type that email yourself? (forward makes it too easy to pass on spam) I'm not trying to do away with Free Speech. I’m just saying, if we took an ounce of the energy that we put into protecting the climbing style of a Mugs Stump route or the cryptobiotic soils of Canyonlands and poured it into the ethics of how we communicate, what could we come up with? Perhaps we would worry less about protecting our right to say any thing we desire - true or not, constructive or not - and put a little more thought into what things we say (and what it says about us). Maybe our country would be a happier, kinder place. And now I will step off of my soap box. Peace out