The December 22 & 29th, 2008 issue of The New Yorker contained a piece by Mark Twain, entitled “The Privilege of the Grave.” In his usual dry, witty way Twain contends that free speech is 5000 times more rare than murder and punished 100% of the time. He is, of couse, speaking of punishment by one’s peers, family, society, etc. It is a wonderfully well-written piece about the longing many people have to say what they truly think, and how that is almost always supressed. I do not want to go further in summarizing the essay, Continue reading