That Steinberg has restored my post is proof of their genuine commitment to supporting freedom of speech. I’m impressed. Actually, I’m so impressed that I’m going to consider buying the upgrade to Cubase Pro 10 after all.
I care about freedom of speech – and so should you – because it’s your right to say things that I disagree with. And vice versa. To quote some famous authors:
“Take away freedom of speech, and the creative faculties dry up.” (George Orwell)
“It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.” (Louis Brandeis)
“He who stifles free discussion, secretly doubts whether what he professes to believe is really true.”
“Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” (Thomas Jefferson)
“Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. [Freedom of speech], of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down.”
“Every important freedom that Western individuals possess rests on free expression. We observe what is wrong, and we say what is wrong, in order that it may be corrected. … If you cannot voice — or even consider — criticism, then you will never see what is wrong.”
So, before you demand that my original post be censored, consider that, thanks to our freedom of speech, you have the right to mock what I have written. You also have the right to engage in rational discourse. It’s your choice, and it’s your right – to freedom of speech. But if you deprive me of that right, then you will inevitably lose it yourself.