Bill Hicks on Freedom of Speech
Bill Hicks responding to a priest’s letter calling the recent screening of his live show “Revelations” blasphemous.
8 June 1993
Dear Sir,
After reading your letter expressing your concerns regarding my special ‘Revelations’, I felt duty-bound to respond to you myself in hopes of clarifying my position on the points you brought up, and perhaps enlighten you as to who I really am.
Where I come from — America — there exists this wacky concept called ‘freedom of speech’, which many people feel is one of the paramount achievements in mankind’s mental development. I myself am a strong supporter of the ‘Right of freedom of speech’, as I’m sure most people would be if they truly understood the concept. ‘Freedom of speech’ means you support the right of people to say exactly those ideas which you do not agree with. (Otherwise, you don’t believe in ‘freedom of speech’, but rather only those ideas which you believe to be acceptably stated.) Seeing as how there are so many different beliefs in the world, and as it would be virtually impossible for all of us to agree on any onebelief, you may begin to realize just how important an idea like ‘freedom of speech’ really is. The idea basically states ‘while I don’t agree or care for what you are saying, I do support your right to say it, for herein lies true freedom’.
You say you found my material ‘offensive’ and ‘blasphemous’. I find it interesting that you feel your beliefs are denigrated or threatened when I’d be willing to bet you’ve never received a single letter complaining about your beliefs, or asking why they are allowed to be. (If you have received such a letter, it definitely did not come from me.) Furthermore, I imagine a quick perusal of an average week of television programming would reveal many more shows of a religious nature, than one of myshows — which are called ‘specials’ by virtue of the fact that they arevery rarely on.
All I’m doing in ‘Revelations’ is giving my point of view in my language based on my experiences — much the same way religious broadcasters might organize their programs. While I’ve found many of the religious shows I’ve viewed over the years not to be to my liking, or in line with my own beliefs, I’ve never considered it my place to exert any greater type of censorship than changing the channel, or better yet — turning off the TV completely.
Now, for the part of your letter I found most disturbing.
In support of your position of outrage, you posit the hypothetical scenario regarding the possibly ‘angry’ reaction of Muslims to material they might find similarly offensive. Here is my question to you: Are you tacitly condoning the violent terrorism of a handful of thugs to whom the idea of ‘freedom of speech’ and tolerance is perhaps as foreign as Christ’s message itself? If you are somehow implying that their intolerance to contrary beliefs is justifiable, admirable, or perhaps even preferable to one of acceptance and forgiveness, then I wonder what your true beliefs really are.
If you had watched my entire show, you would have noticed in my summation of my beliefs the fervent plea to the governments of the world to spend less money on the machinery of war, and more on feeding, clothing, and educating the poor and needy of the world … A not-so-unchristian sentiment at that!
Ultimately, the message in my material is a call for understanding rather than ignorance, peace rather than war, forgiveness rather than condemnation, and love rather than fear. While this message may have understandably been lost on your ears (due to my presentation), I assure you the thousands of people I played to in my tours of the United Kingdom got it.
I hope I helped answer some of your questions. Also, I hope you consider this an invitation to keep open the lines of communication. Please feel free to contact me personally with comments, thoughts, or questions, if you so choose. If not, I invite you to enjoy my two upcoming specials entitled ‘Mohammed the TWIT’ and ‘Buddha, you fat PIG’. (JOKE)
Sincerely,
Bill Hicks
Antibiotic Overuse May Increase Superbug Evolution Rate
By flooding our environment with antibiotics, people may alter a little-appreciated but profound aspect of bacterial evolution: the very pace at which it occurs. Bacteria may evolve more rapidly and more radically than just a few decades ago.
This proposition is still a hypothesis, but it’s an intriguing one. While drug resistance is a well-known consequence of antibiotic use, a global acceleration of bacterial mutability could make drug resistance more common and shape pathogens in unpredictable ways.
“Human activities might be altering the fundamental tempo of bacterial evolution,” write geneticists Michael Gillings of Australia’s Macquarie University and Hatch Stokes of the University of Technology in a June Trends in Ecology and Evolution paper.
PHILOSOPHY POSTERS: BEAUTIFUL AND INSPIRING WORDS
These posters do just that, capturing some of the wisdom written by the great philosophers that have gone before us, those who explored the far boundaries of human understanding and wisdom. The bold, black and white typography against a newsprint like halftone, is just the right look for such truthful statements strongly said.
The series of posters was created by Max Temkin, a designer and print maker from Chicago, Illinois. He was inspired to create the set after a retiring teacher gave him a poster containing an enlightening message from Friedrich Nietzsche… but one that was designed in a fashion far less inspiring than the quote itself. Looking to create something more fitting of the wise words these thinkers gave us, he recently started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds and sell the beautiful hand silk-screened posters at a bargain price of $20 a pop… and has had a huge amount of interest. In fact, he’s sold 1362 prints to date. It’s almost as inspiring a story as the quotes he’s sharing. To get your hands on one of these prints and their deep messages, head to Max’s site: Maxistentialism.(via visualnews)
- A man: I want happiness.
- Buddha: First remove "I," that's ego, then remove "want," that's desire. See? Now you are left with happiness.
