What You Can't Say - Paul Graham

A riveting dichotomy on societal decorum.

Snippets (click here to read the full article):

.....I don't think we need the viso sciolto so much as the pensieri stretti. Perhaps the best policy is to make it plain that you don't agree with whatever zealotry is current in your time, but not to be too specific about what you disagree with. Zealots will try to draw you out, but you don't have to answer them....

.....One way to do this is to ratchet the debate up one level of abstraction. Another way to counterattack is with metaphor. Arthur Miller undermined the House Un-American Activities Committee by writing a play, "The Crucible," about the Salem witch trials. Best of all, probably, is humor. Zealots, whatever their cause, invariably lack a sense of humor......

.....Time gives us such distance for free. Indeed, the arrival of new fashions makes old fashions easy to see, because they seem so ridiculous by contrast. From one end of a pendulum's swing, the other end seems especially far away.....

.....When you see statements being attacked as x-ist or y-ic (substitute your current values of x and y), whether in 1630 or 2030, that's a sure sign that something is wrong. When you hear such labels being used, ask why. Learn to recognize and discount the effects of moral fashions......

.....How can you see the wave, when you're the water? Always be questioning. That's the only defence. What can't you say? And why?......