John Stuart Mill’s Book on Liberty

Who’s Right Or Wrong

As an American in today’s society we have many privileges and rights that we use in order to control our lives. As in John Stuart Mill’s, book On Liberty he describes his purpose of intemperance on people and their opinions. “…it is fit to take some notice of those who say that the free expression of all opinions should be permitted, on condition that the manner be temperate, and do not pass the bounds of fair discussion”(82). Certain opinions or beliefs today seem to force people’s mind to make decisions or choices that mold the outcome of our future.

Liberty is a strategy that Mill uses to discuss intemperance in today’s society. Intemperance is “Lack of temperance, as in the indulgence of an appetite or a passion”. As in America, we possess the title of being one of the biggest countries in the world. We are the richest and most diverse group of people. Our country gives the people liberty, but liberty doesn’t guarantee us freedom. Freedom is something that is earned and can be taken away from people. People can have freedom of opinion as long as they don’t use it to offend or harm some other person Mill writes about what people believe that freedom of opinion means to them and it doesn’t mean that a person can say anything he or she believes. There are some limits that prevent a person from doing that. “…it is fit to take some notice of those who say that the free expression of all opinions should be permitted, on condition that the manner be temperate, and do not pass the bounds of fair discussion”(82). But at the same time there are special occasions when this doesn’t take part and Mill explains “It is, however, obvious that law and authority have no business with restraining either, while opinion ought, in every instance, to determine its verdict by the circumstances of the individual case…”(83).

According to Mill, people tend to believe those who persuade them in believing something that may not be true. These people tend to lie and portray themselves as nice people, which makes those who believe them not have any doubts in their argument or opinion. “But the principal offence the betrayal, bring home to conviction. The gravest of them is, to argue sophistically, to suppress facts or arguments, to misstate the elements of the case, or misrepresent the opposite opinion”(82). This quote expresses the main offense that people who express a strong opinion, control others mind into believing what they want them too. Every one has their own opinion which can be true, but at the same time can be false. People shouldn’t have a problem with one’s opinion as long as he or she is able to express or argue it in a reasonable fashion to someone else. If people try to force their opinion or use it in a strong way of arguing its validity to people, it would lower the other persons self esteem. The argument would be useless because neither of the two would get anywhere to come to a conclusion. So as these people become superior in their ability, they slowly override the inferior opponent. By misrepresenting the facts and displaying false arguments, help create an environment of one opinion versus the other opinion.

In order for Mill to get his point across, he breaks his argument into two different group’s, the majority and the minority. This literary tactic used by Mill is a great way to reach his audience. The majority is the one who ends up having an advantage in an argument and most of the time being the superior group. As for the minority, they are at a disadvantage when it comes down to arguments since there is a small amount of people that get categorized into this group. “To calumny of