Conflicting Freedoms

We usually commend both freedom of thought and freedom of speech, without realising they often conflict.

Thought is usually most effectively conducted in silence. Speech, on the other hand cannot be silent and commands the attention of anyone in hearing range, whether they are interested or not. Those speaking to someone else usually expect the one addressed to respond with a comment on the same subject, without considering the possibility that that individual might at the time have been thinking about something quite different and prefer that the train of thought be allowed to proceed without interruption.

When demonstrators repeatedly shout slogans of just a few words that seems to me a sort of assault on the minds of anyone else in hearing, makibg it very hard for anyone nearby to follow any significant train of thought.