One thing that seems to transcend political bounds is the notion of free speech.
We all consider free speech to be important. And folks sure love to use it as their defense or justification to say what they want.
Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t get what “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press….” actually means, and the intent of the amendment.
You see, the main purpose of that amendment is to protect unpopular speech. We don’t need to protect popular speech, but we do need to ensure that people can say things others might not want to hear. Unfortunately, a lot of those folks that tend to be the ones that rally behind “free speech” the most also seem to be the ones that want to silence the things they don’t want to hear.
You know… offensive speech. Or other types of unpopular speech.
When politically motivated fundamentalist Christians campaign to remove books from school libraries, or when they speak out against rappers and rock musicians who glorify violence and hedonism, the free speech advocates in the art and entertainment community are the first ones to stand up in their defense. They loudly condemn those who would pull books from libraries as closed-minded fools and defiantly proclaim “I read banned books” on bumper stickers and buttons.
But there is a serious and jarring disconnect in this community. They seem to understand that the First Amendment isn’t about protecting popular speech. It is actually about protecting the right of the people to express the most unpopular of ideas. The problem is, a staggering number of these supposedly free-thinking folks are quite willing to step up and openly advocate censorship and the stifling of free expression, even by force in some cases. Of course, in their view, they are not advocating censorship at all, because censorship is when the government shuts someone up. When they do it, it’s called “creating a safe environment for x” or “raising awareness of x”. The unnamed variable “x” is whatever progressive social cause they feel like inserting at the moment.
This group uses language as a subtle, yet powerful weapon to tilt the playing field of debate before any ideas are ever in play. Their favorite buzzwords are the aforementioned “awareness”, followed by “tolerance”, “acceptance”, and “sensitivity”. They treat these words with reverence. In their minds they are holding aloft the banner of enlightenment, boldly marching against “hatred”, “intolerance”, “bigotry”, “ignorance” and “racism”. So before anyone has even begun to discuss a given issue, the progressive protectors of “free speech” have rigged the language and set themselves up as moral superiors, whose opponents by definition are backwards, hateful bigots. They clamor to shout down anyone who dares to think outside of the intellectual/philosophical boxes they have constructed as morally correct ideological packages. And they are consistently winning. Censorship is in. Ask Tracy Morgan.
Stuff From Hsoi 