Very so often there are these things that I want to write and share about, and yet at the same time I hesitate. The source of hesitation is that despite the speak of tolerance, we always ask only of others to tolerate ourselves, but are ever in haste to judge others. And with the internet, information can travel thousands of kilometers and come to us effortlessly with a drag of a finger or the click of a mouse.
Imagine that each person has a different set of "moral balance" in their hearts, where everyone has a different level of acceptance to whatever views you hold, and depending on how many friends you have or how famous you are, every word that you publish may come under the scrutiny from dozens to millions of people. You don't go to jail from holding views that are different from a lot of people, but you are surely condemned by some Facebook friend who doesn't really know you too well.
Obviously the things that I hesitate to write about are most likely views that aren't "mainstream" or "post-modern" (because even 'modern' isn't modern enough). Now I am no columnist or public figure, so it is less of a problem for me. Yet this imposing wave of public opinion may be serious enough to be called a "tyranny." This "internet tyranny" is probably the most recent incarnation of the "tyranny of the majority" popularised by John Stuart Mill. This classic problem of democracy, combined with the internet, is more powerful than ever. Laws may be passed in the past that put a minority in the disadvantage, but at the end of the day, what the law dictates may not influence our lives as much as the internet does nowadays.
Imagine further that on the internet, people tell you what you think is wrong day in and day out, doesn't that take a bigger toll on you than paying a several more dollars of taxes a month?
