Barring libel, prejudicial comment about pending court cases, and so-called “hate speech,” free speech is universally considered a good thing. Thus it makes sense to advocate it far and wide, as you do in your series on civil liberties (“The Tongue Twisters,” October 13, 2007). But freedom is a funny thing. The freer the speech, the “cheaper” it becomes. Put differently, the less free it is, the more courage and cunning is required to speak out, and thus there is less blabber. Less bullshit, to be a bit more precise. When speech is quite restricted, every single word from a poet, writer, or philosopher counts. On occasion it has the force of thunder, as well. Many from behind the Iron Curtain will thus remember the good old times, when free speech was but a dream. Back then, speaking was an art. And so was listening.

Addendum I (November 5, 2007)

My copy of the mighty newspaper came in this morning’s mail. I was happy to discover in it this particular letter, but I was also quite surprised. I had a feeling the letter’s nostalgic twist would not be entirely pleasing to the editor. The only disappointment this time around is that the sentence containing the word “bullshit” was edited away. A great pity, too. It adds both color and punch to the word “blabber” in the previous sentence.

Addendum II (January 9, 2009)

When I wrote this letter to The Economist, it did not even cross my mind that I might end up in Croatian court for libel a couple of years hence. Naïvely, I thought that so-called verbal offences were things of the past. Socialist past, to be more exact. As it turns out, the unbridled capitalism in Croatia has eventually led to such a degree of curbing of free speech that Tito himself would have been quite proud of those at the helm of the country. The mantra of free speech is only for fools like me, anyhow.