(«Therefore it is linguistically correct to say, «in despair
over the earthly» (the occasion), and «about the eternal,» but «
over oneself,» because this is again another
expression for the occasion of despair, which in its
concept is always about the eternal, whereas that
over which one despairs may be of the most various sorts.
The Merchant of Venice sets a
concept of justice tempered with mercy
over against unbending legalism and self - righteousness, but it reminds us» in the troubling figure of Shylock as well as in the failure of the Christian characters to integrate him into the comic conclusion» that even
expressions of mercy can be tainted with self - righteousness.
It presages a law captured by the rhetoric of the right to freedom of
expression without due regard to the value underlying the particular exercise of that right; a law in which, under the guise of the right to freedom of
expression, the «right» to offend can be exercised without responsibility or restraint providing it does not cause a disruption or disturbance in the nature of public disorder; a law in which an impoverished amoral
concept of «public order» is judicially ordained; a law in which the right to freedom of
expression trumps — or tramples upon — other rights and values which are the vital rights and properties of a free and democratic society; a law to which any number of vulnerable individuals and minorities may be exposed to uncivil, and even odious, ethnic, sexist, homophobic, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and anti-Islamic taunts providing no public disorder results; a law in which good and decent people can be used as fodder to promote a cause or promote an action for which they are not responsible and
over which they have no direct control; a law which demeans the dignity of the persons adversely affected by those asserting their right to freedom of
expression in a disorderly or offensive manner; a law in which the mores or standards of society are set without regard to the reasonable expectations of citizens in a free and democratic society; and a law marked by a lack of empathy by the sensibilities, feelings and emotional frailties of people who can be deeply and genuinely affronted by language and behaviour that is beyond the pale in a civil and civilised society.