The book is an act of intimidation. It presages growing governmentalization, it advocates growing governmentalization, and communicates: Obey us or get hurt. Knuckle under or we will hurt you. The book is not only anti-liberal in its political outlook, it is illiberal in its manner of discoursing. Its whole manner is dishonest; the book is disagreeable to any dignified and self-respecting reader.
The “anti-misinformation” projects are obvious miscarriages of civility, decency, and the rule of law. We must rediscover the norms of openness, tolerance, and free speech that dignify humankind. Science depends on confidence, and confidence depends on those liberal norms. Those norms are the parents of good science, healthy sense-making, and civil tranquility.
The Godly path to Adam Smith’s liberal plan is a path away from cultishness. Can liberalism be sustained in a world of waning belief in God? Tocqueville said that the spirit of liberty and the spirit of religion depend on one another. Hayek ended The Fatal Conceit asking whether people in an age of waning theism will not be inclined to find meaning and validation in cultish politics.
Political discourse abounds with waywardness in word usage. It’s something you do not want to fall into. Falling into it has two sides, passive and active. The passive vice is going along with the wayward word usage in the discourse you read or listen to. The active vice is discoursing waywardly yourself. Try to be neither sap nor perp of word waywardness.
