Paradox

The paradox is finding the correct balance for a just society. 

Absolute authoritarianism is not the answer; too much misery for too many people. 

Unrestrained liberty isn't either; you can't just fire a machine gun into a crowd of people for shits and giggles but you can spread egregious bullshit that results in thousands dying needlessly. 

We need some kind of control to establish boundaries, i.e., the rule of law. 

But what do we do when those obsessed with seizing power deliberately undermine faith in the law? 

We need to make sure those who promote lies are held accountable. 

We also need to distinguish between those doing genuine journalism and those who simply seek to intrude on others, claiming freedom of the press. 

So-called First Amendment auditors (a.k.a. frauditors) are in this group, losers and criminals who deliberately antagonize society to make up for their pathetic lives.

Therein lays the problem, of course.

How can we judge between the citizen journalists documenting a genuine concern and the jerks just stirring up trouble for their own personal gain and satisfaction?

With the rise of influencers in pop culture we need a way of discerning between those who genuinely seek to inform and those who will promulgate anything for clicks and views. 

The concept of free speech and freedom of the press to include purely commercial speech such as advertising is another area we need to reexamine. 

Laws exist to penalize those who deliberately lie and mislead with advertising or labeling, but none for the person who deliberately promotes falsehoods knowing a certain percentage of the populace will believe them.

There's a difference from fiction that's mistaken for fact (viz satire that looks so close to the original it feels it fools some people) and deliberate misinformation. 

Here the issue of freedom of religion comes in, but the religious do not have the right to impose their beliefs on us.  Should a religious person wish to believe in creationism, that's their prerogative; for them to demand evolution not be taught is to impinge their belief on others. 

Conversely to require religious schools to teach the theory of evolution so their students clearly understand what it is does not require them to actually believe it any more than teaching Marxism requires anyone to become a communist. 

Rather it benefits both society as a whole and the religious by giving each a common vocabulary to deal with one another. 

Likewise, there's a vital need for members of isolated communities -- and here I include psychological as well as physical isolation -- to be aware of laws and standards observed by the rest of society.  Many isolated groups limit -- including but not limited to religious groups -- are actually run by predators of varying stripes.  Their predation should not be made easier by allowing them to hide their crimes under the cloak of religion; rather all members of their group should be aware of basic human rights and protections under law so that they have the option of exercising those should they choose.

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SIDEBAR:  
While we're at it, tax the churches.  Any legitimate charitable expense may be tax exempt -- feeding the hungry, helping the destitute, etc. -- but otherwise treat them as a private social club and tax them accordingly.

Ideally, require them to use state operated bookkeeping systems and accountants to maintain financial transparency and prevent financial abuse by charlatans (any religious leader with a private airplane is a fraud).

. . .

ADDITIONAL SIDEBAR: 
Don't exempt politicians.  Anyone holding elective office should be required to surrender the bulk of their personal property, especially stock.  Give them lifelong pensions and medical care so they don't feel the need to amass personal fortunes, deny them the ability to capitalize on public service by denying them the ability to charge these for public speaking or writing for publication.  Let them keep a single home, vehicles for private us,e and other such items but take away their businesses and large property holdings. 

Such a system needs a lot of finessing, obviously, but that's beyond the scope of this post.  My objective is to remove profit motive from political office, recruiting only those who genuinely wish to serve. 

. . .

Ultimately we need to find some way of removing the malicious and the willfully ignorant from the equation, the same way we would remove rotten apples from a barrel rather than letting them fester and spoil everything. 

That's not freedom, that's pointless waste.

© Buzz Dixon