Anthony writes:

I guess what I didn't understand was that you were using the term "freedom of speech" to mean an absolute bar on the restriction of speech.

This is not what I was using the term to mean.

Would you say there is clearly a tension between fraud law (or perjury law) and freedom of speech?

There is certainly some tension there, as is well-documented in the scholarly treatments of the subject.

The way I understand it, rights cannot be in conflict (or tension), and any seeming conflicts (or tensions) between your rights and the rights of another are simply a misunderstanding of one or the other right.

Are you just making this up off the top of your head? Of course rights can be in tension, and they often are.

I won't speak for Thomas, but I've noticed this independently of anyone having told me about it.

False memes can also arise from spontaneous generation and mutation. (Blame cosmic rays, if you want.) Whether you want to focus on your original perception of what you project upon me or else upon the significance of how many people share your view, the fact remains -- if you believe what you are predisposed to believe, nothing I can say will affect your belief. Explaining where your predisposition came from is up to you -- it's not something I can know about.

Wow, I'd say the exact opposite is true. I'd say the meme of assuming good faith, especially as it has mutated to be used quite commonly by Wikipedians (to discourage criticism), is a meme which promotes other memetic viruses, not one which inoculates against them.

That's a wonderfully misanthropic, cynical view. I imagine you're quite proud of it.

Well, like I said, not something I'm interested in arguing with you about. It's not my problem, it's your problem.

Seriously, since (a) you think I walk around thinking of you as "little people," and (b) I know that is not how I think, it seems to me to be the converse -- a problem for you, not for me. I mean, I'm personally untroubled by your treasuring of a pet idea, even if it's a pet idea about how little I supposedly think you are.

--Mike