Show The Liberty to I o S Dy y DR FRANK CRANE The thing that makes the world bearable is our freedom to find fault As long itS as we we cannot the world nearer to our hearts heart's desire there is some consolation in telling it what Is the matter with It What freedom of speech really means is freedom free dom doni to find fault And for it men will gladly die There never has been much objection to anyone's speaking until he begins to find fault If a man were prevented from finding fault with his meals his preacher and his newspaper he would feel that his personality had be been m squeezed down clown downto to an infinitesimal part o of the hole In the e doughnut We Ve dont don't mind if the politicians ne ate our vote but anyone anone tries to muzzle our innate right to tell people what's wrong we rise to do battle Intha in the tha cause of freedom t A motion picture producer In Los Loi Angeles once I told the writer of of the jO joy with which people wel- wel ome the chance to find fault at previews It is the custom among the studios to send out films to nearby towns for a. a showing before a final revision for distribution is made Such Such showings are calle and postcards are distributed to the audience for them to send in criticisms and suggestions for improving the pi ture Almost without exception they avail themselves of I Ithe the opportunity to find fault i One doesn't like the heros hero's haircut another thinks th the heroine looks too old for the part another thinks a should have been a a long shot etc etc ad Infinitum and to the joy or of the All writers whose work appears regularly discover dis- dis over cover the enjoyment people get out of f finding fault An in grammar a flood of oC letters a misquoted line a deluge Jt In this latter there is another element Finding a mistake where no mistake is supposed to be adds a puzzle solving thrill It Is is' is like e finding a face hIdden among among of a tree or in the lines of a cloud All in all alJ the chief back of the worlds world's ego Is the ability to find fault Copyright 1927 b by McClure |