Credo
I believe that it is difficult to kill an idea
Because ideas are invisible and contagious, and they move fast
I believe that you can set your own ideas against ideas you dislike
That you should be free to argue
Explain, clarify, debate, offend, insult, rage, mock, sing, dramatize and deny
I do not believe that burning, murdering, exploding people
Smashing their heads with rocks, to let the bad ideas out
Drowning them or even defeating them
Will work to contain ideas you do not like
Ideas spring up where you do not expect them
Like weeds, and are as difficult to control
I believe that repressing ideas spreads ideas
I believe that people and books and newspapers are containers for ideas
But that burning the people who hold the ideas
Will be as unsuccessful as firebombing the newspaper archives
It is already too late, it is always too late
The ideas are already out, hiding behind people's eyes
Waiting in their thoughts
They can be whispered, they can be written on walls
In the dead of night, they can be drawn
I believe that ideas do not have to be correct to exist
I believe you have every right to be perfectly certain
That images of God or prophet or human that you revere are sacred and undefilable
Just as I have the right to be certain of the sacredness of speech
And of the sanctity of the right to mock, comment, to argue and to utter
I believe I have the right to think and say the wrong things
I believe your remedy for that should be to argue with me or to ignore me
And that I should have the same remedy
For the wrong things that I believe you think
I believe that you have the absolute right to think things
That I find offensive, stupid, preposterous or dangerous
And that you have the right to speak, write, or distribute these things
And that I do not have the right to kill you
Maim you, hurt you, or take away your liberty or property
Because I find your ideas threatening or insulting or downright disgusting
You probably think some of my ideas are pretty vile too
I believe that in the battle between guns and ideas, ideas will eventually win
Because the ideas are invisible, and they linger
And sometimes, they can even be true
Eppur si muove (and yet it moves)