Currently I read a less known classic, a ‘founding father’ of caricature and the poking of fun against the high minded. A sport that started in the Ancient Greece with a lot of cool and funny writers, and was continued in Rome.

The guy is called Lucian, and he is cool to say the least. He is honest, funny and deep.

He has this tirade against power, that I really like, and it goes to the core of what enlightenment is in the civilized world.

He takes off from a funny place compared to modern days. He discusses slander. How slander can be weaponized and used to degrade and destroy otherwise wonderful people of achievement.

He says, that slander is the tool of the less accomplished, those who only do things sloppily and without much skill.

He points to the fact, that slander is evil in its core, and abuses power by secretly inflaming peoples thirst for revenge and hatred.

He has this example of people who are kind, strong and wise, and how they meet the world with openness, just to meet the hatred of others.

Thereby giving a win to the slanderer.

We live in this world, where we are constantly slandering other people. Not believing them, and trying to figure out the motives we believe they have, but they do not have.

What is the remedy?

The light, enlightenment, to speak the truth.

Often this is forgotten these days, as we delve into bipartisanship and name calling.

We should not, but have the guts and ethical strength to look at things without prejudging.

Now that is the path to less popularity, that is the fact of it. Me myself, I am still deplatformed, my network is slowly rebuilding after years of government destruction and vilification. So I know the price, perhaps better than most.

But at the core of ethical principles, this is the first amendment and therefor also the basis upon which we need to stand.

The Statue of Liberty tells that story, that in order to be free, you need to be truthful therefor the importance of free speech.

G-d bless the will to find truth in what we do and say.