Quick Quote

Apropos of nothing, I just ran across this quote:

Plato used the dialogue format because the exchange of views, the posing and answering of questions, showed that understanding is a living, dynamic process. He distrusted writing because the settled character of the written word makes it look as if truth can be fixed and made to stand still. It is worth remembering that this greatest advocate of the objective reality of truth also believed that our access to that truth was sustained in reasoned discussion.

— John Churchill, From the Secretary: Inspiring Conversations in The Key Reporter. Vol 67, Number 4. P. 2., Summer 2002

I think this is one of the strongest, most concise arguments in favor of free speech and open debate that I have ever heard. I’d never heard of this guy, but it seems he’s the secretary of Phi Beta Kappa. Sounds like a smart cookie.

(Posted at the very lowest possible priority on our blog because it doesn’t have anything to do anything, bears repeating, and won’t fit in a tweet.)