Freedom Of Speech

THIS I BELIEVE:

I must begin by stating that I am a firm believer in the rights promised to us by our constitution.

But, I also believe that just because the constitution guarantees people the right to be incredibly offensive and disagreeable doesn’t mean they ought to exercise it.

I find that most of our of our Nation’s problems arise from the fact that people seem to think of disagreement as a personal attack, rather than a mere difference of an opinion.

People need to start acknowledging the other side of their argument, because then opposing factions (there are too many to count, but they exist in all facets of society) could actually begin to work things out.

Pro-life and pro-choice, democrat and republican, atheism and creationism, culture and counter-culture; they must realize their similarities and more importantly respect their differences. Leave all the harsh and attacking comments AT HOME.

Just because you have the right to piss people off doesn’t mean you necessarily should.

On smaller levels, being considerate or inconsiderate in the exercise of your free speech rights can be a matter of choice and/or respect, but eventually (if you don’t believe me, think this through for a while) it results in gang violence, neo-nazism, or churches publicly, and I might add childishly, condemning the military for allowing homosexual soldiers within their ranks.

In the end, all you have is a bunch of angry people with no apparent motive or reasonable solution. Unfortunately this poor exercising of civil liberties does not end here.

The owners of corporations have all the right in the world (US actually) to sell goods that cut quality to achieve lower prices, to run small businesses into the ground, while us, the consumers, cannot afford to NOT shop from these places, and to destroy nature with the flattening and paving that breathes the corporations into existence. It’s profitable!

There’s nothing in the constitution against making honest Capitalism (note I said honest: not ethical. The man running the guillotine during the French revolution could honestly say that he was going to behead his victim, but maybe not so much how ethical it was).

Just think of Wal-Mart for starters.

Now at this point, it might possibly seem like I’m advocating a more socialized economy, and God forbid political correctness. Nooooo sir (or ma’am), I just believe in more ethical business practices and a more respectful public atmosphere.

And while people should not be so offensive, I also believe that people should not take offense so easily.

Now come on, the “n-word?” Is that really that big of a deal? What is racist and what isn’t racist has been blown out of proportion. It’s the same with being sexist, and the same with just about any other kind of –ist. We’re being bred to be nice and inoffensive, but look how well that’s working. Making words or ideas or actions politically or not politically correct is not going to help anything, and neither is being a complete and terribly offensive person.

I believe we ought to also re-examine our values concerning the importance of political correctness, because they need some extensive revising. Heck, we need to revise most of our country (don’t judge me). I don’t advocate liberal or conservative thinking particularly, but as I’ve already said, when it comes to our freedom of speech, we as Americans are teenagers that have run awry with their late curfew.

So please people, THINK about the consequences of what comes out of your mouth a little more, and give a little more leeway to what comes out of other peoples.