When someone disagrees with us, even when we have asked for an honest opinion, it often sets off an alarm within us, a kind of call to battle to defend our position, to fortify our defenses. Somehow our intelligence and even self-worth feel called into question.
Our temptation is to put down the threat by restricting others’ freedom of expression. We may try this overtly, by discounting them saying, “No one in their right mind would believe that!” Or we may covertly try to retaliate, perhaps giving them the cold shoulder, making snide remarks, and so on.
We may be successful in putting down our opposition, but if we do so, the next victim of censorship will probably turn out to be us. When Voltaire said, “I do not agree with a word you have said, but would fight to the death for your right to say it,” he was protecting his own freedom as well.
When we cost others their freedom, we risk being caged ourselves.