OK Millennial, Why Is Free Speech So Important?
The Younger Generations Have No Idea They Are Destroying Themselves By Not Caring About Censorship Of Those They Disagree With
Everyday seems to bring new calls for elimination of free speech. The latest is the 1960s icon who "never sold out" calling for Joe Rogan to be eliminated from Spotify. I don't know how a 60s hippie turned into a fan of censorship, but I guess I don't want to know (I am a 60s hippie, too, but now considered alt-right, LOL). His song, 'Rockin In The Free World' makes zero sense now. By the way, he is not a boomer. He is Silent Generation. So, at least I can't claim him. But, I digress, and need to get this article done.
Free speech seems to be so passé in America these days. It drives this old boomer crazy. People literally don't care that their Internet lives are monitored and sold. People do not care when others are silenced for speaking the truth unless it is also their truth. People don't care when the press lies constantly about everything from Covid to Trump Russia collusion. And people are absolutely fine that any negative story about Joe or Hunter Biden's corruption are hidden and suppressed.
Imagine if any of Biden's proven corruption were actually committed by Trump. All hell would break loose and the world would end and it would be 24/7 news (and CNN and MSNBC would love it because their ratings are in the dump now). But, no one cares about Biden or Democrat corruption. As an aside, it is why we are about to go to war with Russia instead of China or, God Forbid, not going to war at all.
The younger generations today seem to not care a bit about the demise of free speech in the home of free speech. Hate America all you want, we are still historically the home of free speech. The lack of historical awareness is appalling on a general basis. To me, that is actually the root of all evil today. Part of it is that the censorship and cancelling that is going on today seems, in their minds, to only be directed at those who say things they disagree with.
So, they cheer when someone like Dr. Robert Malone or Alex Berenson or Donald Trump gets banned from Twitter. These cheerleaders approve of the censorship because they are authoritarians that approve of the many establishment narratives that they support whether they are true or not (and virtually none is true, think about that for a minute). I can't wait until the censors come for them when they have an unapproved thought. And they will. And I will laugh as they are shipped off to the Gulag screaming their apologies and compliance. Actually, I won't laugh. I also won't be surprised when it happens.
But it goes much deeper than that. Back in the day, we were allowed to have civil discussions about topics we disagreed on. Disagreements are (or were) normal. That is the nature of a civil society and a democracy. We now live in a world where truth is decided based on a specific ideology and anything not being what Orwell called Newspeak is a thoughtcrime. People really should read his book, 1984, that predicted what we have today and it was written in 1949. This ideology is written by corporations, neoliberals and the billionaire donors to the political class, primarily Democrats, but also including plenty of Republicans.
I am an old Boomer and will die fairly soon and the "OK Boomer" crowd will applaud because they will no longer have to hear me talking about free speech and the foundations of this country. There is a reason this is covered in the First Amendment, you know. First is first. I have a really thick skin, but I want to punch anyone who says, "OK Boomer" in the face because it says so much about how egotistical and stupid such people are. And they need seriously to be punched multiple times in the face.
I went to elementary school in the early 1960s. There were two things drilled into our heads back then relating to how important the right of free speech was to both the founding of the country and how Americans are expected to interact with one another.
One was a cute little poem:
Sticks and stones may break my bones,
But words will never hurt me
The other was perhaps more significant, but means the same thing, back then it was a quote attributed to Nathan Hale (Revolutionary War Patriot and, no doubt, evil white man), but has in later years been attributed to Voltaire or Evelyn Beatrice Hall. It doesn't really matter who said it. It is the essence of the United States in a nutshell, courtesy of the French Revolution.
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
These quotes were the essence of why the ACLU was founded. They are the essence of America. The ACLU has long since abandoned them and are now just a typical censorship pushing liberal organization not worth anyone's time of day. These little phrases defined America and Americans for decades and are now decidedly uncool.
No one in elementary school back then was running to tattle on their classmates when someone said something that offended them. Today, kids brag about tattling and, as a grandparent, it is very disconcerting because when you tell your grandchild that it isn't cool, they think you are insane because their teachers say otherwise. Scary shit to me. But, these are the generations being raised today as the smartphone and TikTok has replaced the TV as the baby sitter. Back in the day, the baby sitter was throwing your kids outside to play.
I often wonder when the last time kids in public or any school heard these little free speech quotes. Probably decades. Today, kids are taught to be offended about literally anything and then complain about being butthurt by any speech that does not agree with them. College students demonstrate if someone deemed conservative is invited to speak. Of course, they are no longer invited. My high school actually invited Jerry Rubin to speak to us and he was the antithesis of what that school's administration admired (this was in 1968 or 1969). And he was pretty outrageous, even for us young hippies. Look him up if you don't know who he was.
In today's climate, the person making whatever is deemed an offensive comment is disciplined without any regard for anything else, as long as the offensive comment is approved as being offensive. I know, makes no sense, but roll with me here. It doesn't even matter if it was offensive, only if someone thinks it was and only if "approved" as offensive. Yeah, I know, confusing as hell.
Certainly free speech is very passé in today's horribly messed up world. Joe Rogan has commented that comedians almost never play the college circuit these days because humor is offensive and it isn't worth the hassle for comedians to get embroiled in controversy on some low end campus for very little money. I can't imagine how hard it is to be a comedian these days.
Here is an example of how things have shifted. Back in the dark ages, people were expected to control their impulses and not get violent unless physically attacked. But if someone verbally says something you don't like, it would appear that violence is an acceptable response as long as you are violent over the right issue, such as perceived racism. Over twenty years ago now, this argument was used to justify banning Confederate Flag t-shirts in schools. Since then, this precedent has been vastly extended.
The reason given was that a person wearing such a t-shirt was inciting violence. Not the person(s) being violent, the person wearing the t-shirt or saying something the person(s) being violent didn't like. That is simply insane for people raised with those two quotes I cited above. Wearing a t-shirt is like words. One is supposed to ignore such things if they bother you. It's a free world, as they said, after all. Except it isn't. "Defund the Police" shirts are fine, but "Blue Lives Matter" shirts are not.
So, shirts that were deemed offensive by some approved group became banned because it might cause violence from those offended. Not a word about self-control or ignoring them and going about your business. Nothing about those getting violent getting arrested as violent people are supposed to be. But, of course, not all offensive language counts. Only some language counts.
This Confederate Flag precedent quickly expanded to other topics and symbols, most recently to anything related to Trump. Do you think a kid would be kicked out of school for wearing a Biden t-shirt? But, let a kid show up with a MAGA hat and see what happens. You can hate Biden or Trump, what someone wears shouldn't matter. But, it does.
That is not what the First Amendment was or is about. If no one ever said anything offensive, there would be no need for such an amendment. That amendment is specifically there so people can say offensive things. Think about it. That is what it is all about. You do not have to agree with all speech, it would be kind of crazy if you actually did in a free society. There are people who want only certain speech allowed and you will be cancelled if you don't agree with it. That, to me, IS really crazy.
Today, people are getting fired for saying things that arguably aren't even offensive. People are being deplatformed, banned, and demonetized all over the monopoly Big Tech Internet. Generally, most liberals are cheering these actions and don't seem to mind when one of their own gets banned on rare occasions. The fact it is now mostly conservatives and anyone who says anything that doesn't comply with the Covid narrative makes liberals visibly giddy. They love it. If their own lives and careers were being destroyed they would be crying like babies. But, for now, it usually isn't them, but they have to make sure they keep up with what the correct Newspeak is and ensure they have the currently approved pronoun lists on hand to check before they utter a word.
One day, they will cross the line and join the rest of us in speech purgatory. And they will then whine like little bitches.
OK Millennial, Why Is Free Speech So Important?
Then there’s Gen X, poor bastards are stuck between you and I and dwarfed in size but are probably the most politically diverse generation in the country. Likes of Obama, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Tucker Carlson, Greenwald, Taibbi, Maddow, Joe Rogan, and on and on.
Maybe this should be more toward Gen Z. I’m a millennial and I was taught both phrases. In SC it’s a law that you have to take civics to graduate high school, that was true in 2009 (year I graduated) and it’s true today. Millennials get a bad wrap like boomers but like boomers it’s misplaced, we’ve discussed this before. People think Silent Generation is Boomer and people think Millennial is just Gen Z 1.0.