#180 This World Is Given To Lying

<strong>India Policy Watch #1:&#160;Futility Of Fighting Lies </strong><br/><br/><em>Insights on burning policy issues in India</em><br/><br/><em>&#8212; RSJ</em><br/><br/>I have been following the case of Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of the fact-checking site <em>Alt News</em> with interest. He was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court a couple of weeks back. You can read <a target="_blank" href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/alt-news-mohammad-zubair-released-from-tihar-after-sc-grants-bail-122072001249_1.html">more about the story here</a>. I border on free speech absolutism, so my opinion on this case, as with many other similar cases in India, is simple. No one should be jailed for any speech unless they are violating Mill&#8217;s harm principle. <br/><br/>In his essay <em>On Liberty</em>, Mill wrote:<br/><br/>&#8220;That principle is, that the sole end for which mankind is warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.&#8221;<br/><br/>But free speech is not the only reason I have brought up the case of Mohammed Zubair here. The case illustrates a point I have made before in this newsletter: while countering lies with fact checks is a noble, worthwhile endeavour, it means nothing in an environment where people are intoxicated with half-truths and grand illusions about a &#8216;real&#8217; past or an &#8216;imagined&#8217; future.<br/><br/>A few years back, I came across this wonderful essay <a target="_blank" href="https://www.econlib.org/monopolize-the-pretty-lies/">&#8216;Monopolize the Pretty Lies&#8217;</a> by Bryan Caplan. While I understood it back then, reading it again now is insightful. <br/><br/>Caplan writes:<br/><br/>What then is the primary purpose of censorship?