From paradoxical freedom of opinion to media education as defensive democracy

In this article, I argue that one of the paradoxes of the internet age is the contradiction between two aspects of freedom of opinion: expressing an opinion and forming an opinion based on facts. Expressing one's opinion may risk others' freedom to form opinions based on facts, because the freedom to express one's opinion also implies the freedom to put forth untrue claims, when there is no editorial filter before the publication of the content. While media education has often been suggested as a means to respond to this paradox, I further argue that education aimed at sustaining or saving democratic society is a means of defensive or militant democracy, which conflicts with the emphasis of individual liberties of liberal democracy. However, I suggest that we need to balance between these two forms of democracy in the form of media literacy education, if we wish to keep the ability to communicate freely online.