It seems like it’s feast or famine. We say we want freedom of speech, until someone
speaks. We say we want tolerance, until we have to stand up. We say we can’t legislate morality, until someone does or says something that offends us.
Oh, the outrage.
Isn’t it odd, in this day and age, in the United States of America, that the public outcry on any given opinion columnist who dares to speak out the opinion for which he or she was hired, has to defend himself or herself, because of the most vocal opinionated voice of the public.
The public voice is often outrageously irresponsible, narcissistic and weighed down by vested interests.
One tactic narcissists use is to bend their voice from moment to moment, regardless of the truth in the matter, to their personal benefit. Pretend truth and made up truth is not truth. It is a lie. Truth matters.
Fantasy truth does not help a family, state nor any country. Narcissists forget that in these days of social media and public and recorded television and news stories, complete with sound, video and pictures, the public can see and repeatedly see the truth of what was said at the moment in time in which any statement was made. History reveals who knew what, when. Honesty matters.
We seem to want freedom only when it is convenient, or popular, or when we get to wave our outrage flag. It would almost be comical if it did not destroy the livelihood of opinion columnists, opinion talk show hosts, and government officials who speak the unpopular truth in the face of opposition based on lies. Two wrongs do not make a right.
Freedom of speech is not meant to be only the current, popular group think tank consensus, spoken by popular personalities.
Freedom of speech is not meant for only particular religious groups, lobbyists, banks, millionaires, CEOs of companies, presidents of anything, or heavy-hitting advertisers who use their dollars to buy the opinions they believe in and wish to promote at any and all costs.
Money is not the bottom line. People are. Speech and policies that promote or tolerate human death as an acceptable means of getting what they want is unconscionable. People are resilient. We can bounce back, but not if we are dead. Money matters, but not if we are dead. Then it is just a pile of money. What we say has consequences. What we say matters.
Freedom of speech is freedom of speech. We all need to use our voice to state our opinion, or voice our stand on a political issue that matters to us. Here in America, others have a United States constitutional right to say any and all opinions they may have. We also have freedom of speech, and are able to voice our opinion on any and all subjects.
What neither side of any issue has no right to do, is to attack the person, go after that person’s job, in attack smear campaigns, or break laws. This is childish. In some cases it is slanderous and/or criminal. Name calling and attacks on a person’s character is something parents deal with when their children go off to first grade. And it does nothing to address the subject at hand.
We all must stand up and be socially responsible. Often, rather than stand up for what we feel is right, or use our freedom of speech to make valid and important points vocally, we turn into cowards and verbally attack the person who has the opinion we don’t like. This is a warped and childish sense of power.
Boo hoo.
Someone has hurt my feelings.
When did “someone has hurt my feelings,” turn into, “They have no right to say that” (whatever it is we do not agree with). What are we, children? We are acting like it.
This may not be a popular article.
It is easier to jump on a bandwagon, any bandwagon that has momentum, rather than tackle a sensitive issue ourselves.
What will our friends think?
Will we lose any public standing if we say what we really believe?
Will we lose our jobs?
There is so much penalty to voice an opinion contrary to the popular public opinion. It is so much easier to character assassinate the individual or group stating something we do not agree with.
We need to activate our freedom, our voice and social responsibility actions. We need to grow up. We need to step into our personal power, and stop giving it away in the tornado of destruction caused by our attacks on others, no matter how insane we believe them to be. Not speaking and acting when we need to, these omissions, also matter. Lives are at stake. Words and actions matter.
People’s words and actions give them away. They do not need us to make them look foolish. They do a good enough job of that themselves.
I am using my God-given freedom of speech, acting with social responsibility, to suggest everyone what I see as a solution to a growing problem sweeping this great nation of ours. It is imperative we regain our freedom of speech. We are on the brink of losing it.
I would like to add one last point. It seems to be the far-right American who is currently claiming to be Christian. I say “claiming” to be Christian because to be Christian is to follow Jesus Christ and the words He spoke. The words Jesus spoke said to take care of the poor, the sick, and according to the Ten Commandments right-wingers like to say they stand on, we are to take care of our mothers and fathers, many of whom are in nursing homes these days.
If money is really the bottom line, then we can all do what Scrooge said to do in A Christmas Carol, and let all the poor, sick and the elderly die, including our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles, and decrease the surplus population.
Money is not the bottom line. People are. At least let us not lie and say we are Christian, then turn around and acts as though we were not.
God Bless