Political Opinions # 12: The Death of Free Speech

[Originally February 2nd, 2018 on Wordpress]

Introduction:

As you may be able to ascertain from some of my previous blog posts, I greatly support the First Amendment. I would go so far to proclaim it to be the most significant and pertinent amendment of the US Constitution.  However,  contrary to its importance to our culture and way of life, it is also currently under threat. Due to the pervasive and tyrannical grip of political correctness,  free speech must submit to the will of the social justice warrior. Capitulate to the servile bonds of the vocabulary police. While the oppressive rhetoric of the left has been fatiguing for years, their resolve has intensified in the wake of Trump's presidency.

The images of violent protesters in downtown Washington, D.C. Still remain fresh in my mind. The horrifying parallels to the anarchist protesters of  Athens, Greece, resonates with me in the utmost trepidation. Have we as Americans lost the ability to have peaceful discourse or expression of disagreement? Potentially, it was already lost on January 20th, however, by February 1st ......  it was pronounced dead on arrival. What really seems to solidify the death of free speech and peaceful disagreement were the Protesters at UC Berkeley.  While I understand that the guess speaker  Milo Yiannopolos is controversial, since when is it okay to engender violent rights as a form of expressing disagreement. In a sense, it is utilizing chaos as a form of censorship, cause so much havoc that Milo would have to cancel his lecture. Which in my opinion is absolutely childish, why not have a mature discussion about your incongruence of opinions?

NEWS STORY:

On February 1, 2017,  Breitbart Editor, Milo Yiannopolos was scheduled to complete his Dangerous Faggot lecture tour at UC Berkeley.  However, Yiannopolos canceled due to the eruption of violent protests in response to his on-campus lecture. The protesters restored to arson, destruction of property, and even injuring others to convey their point.  There was even one woman who was pepper sprayed while giving an interview. UC Berkeley, did formally come out to condemn the violent protests.  Through destructive acts versus  demonstration, debate, and e-mails  the protesters achieved their goal of having Yiannopolos canceling the lecture [3].

DISCUSSION:

Let's just address the 800 lbs gorilla-in-the-room right now, yes,  a lot of   Milo's rhetoric could be perceived as being offensive to some.  First off,  Yiannopolos strives to be shocking,  and he achieves this through crassly expressing conservative political views.  So, if you express your outrage you are only feeding the monster. Secondly, we must address the fact that the US Constitution guarantees freedom of expression, however, it does not insulate us from being offended. Therefore, to prohibit Yiannopolos from being able to have his speaking/lecture tour on the grounds of his content being offensive would be unconstitutional. Also, there are far more constructive was to express disagreement than violence and chaos. If any of these protesters had an ounce of real courage they would have bought a ticket to his lecture and debated him during the Q&A portion.  However, it is always easier to shroud yourself with dark clothing and get lost in mob rule versus direct confrontation.  

However, that is only a minor point. What really irks me is that we as a nation have lost the ability to have civil discourse on disagreements. Since this past election, both sides of the partisan aisle have lost their composure. Both demonstrate a clear inability to find common ground or to think rationally. We make horrendous inferences about an individual's attributes due to the fact the voted for the incorrect candidate for office. This division puts up metaphorical walls (no pun intended), where we can't even have a dialogue. However, defacto censorship via mob rule isn't the answer. We should not censor language, that is the slippery slope to tyranny. If you don't agree, speak up.  If you cannot express your disagreement in a constructive manner, then ignore the individual.  Better yet, someone like Milo, you can vote with your wallet and choose not to purchase his book.

FOOT NOTES:

1. (VIDEO) https://youtu.be/PwFzOW2tZf0

2.https://invertedlogicblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/03/political-opinions-12-the-death-of-free-speech

3. http://www.breitbart.com/milo/2017/02/01/protesters-gather-uc-berkeley-milo-show-police-helicopters-appear/