WyBlog

Free Speech for thee but not for me?

One of the most insidious and disingenuous inventions to be born of the progresive left's existential mendacity is the concept of "hate speech." Words are words; stick and stones and all that, right? Nope. When right-wingers use a word it means precisely what any liberal in earshot might pretend that it means, and it always means that their precious feelings have been hurt. Definitions are fungible, and co-opted "code words" are a minefield of -phobia inducing reprobation.

The speech police are legion, but their mission isn't to counter ideas with better ideas. Their mission is to silence anyone and anything which they consider offensive. "Free Speech" is a right, alas only exercisable by those persons who hold acceptably conforming viewpoints.

My friend Donald Douglas is under attack. Zilla has the details, which aren't pretty, and two other friends, Smitty and Bob Belvedere, stand in solidarity with him. As do I. Those who disagree with Donald are not trying to challenge his ideas; they're determined to destroy his livelihood and his reputation with lies and attacks upon his employer.

Donald was the first guy to link WyBlog, way back when I was starting out. And he got me hooked on Twitter too. He's a gentleman and a scholar; really. We don't always agree, but that's OK. Disagreeing without being disagreeable seems to be purely a right-wing / conservative trait. The politics of personal destruction was invented by the Left, and they're masters at it. Silence is Golden, unless it's their own shrill cacaphony which of course must be tolerated by all.

If Free Speech is to mean anything it absolutely must mean that the other guy has the inalienable right to say things you don't like. There is no right to not be offended. Sorry, but that's the truth.

But when you're raising the second (or third) generation of brats who were taught that feelings and self-esteem matter more than achievement it's impossible to avoid their narcissistic bouts of righteous indignation. People who believe they can "save the planet" aren't particularly prone to engaging in the kind of introspection which leads to true maturity and the development of what we used to call "character." To them everything is an injustice which can only be righted by elimination of its source. It is the worldview of a toddler and it has become the de facto standard under which we are forced to operate. Hate Speech is in the ear of the listener, even if she never actually heard it in the first place.

Want another example? Take Viki Knox, the Union, NJ high school teacher who dared to articulate the Christian doctrine regarding homosexuality. All the usual suspects are aggrieved, and naturally they're calling for her to be ousted from her job. Somehow any statement which doesn't praise homosexuality is "anti-gay hate speech," but there is no level of depravity which is off limits when fulminating against Christianity.

There's one of the progressive Left's most blatant incongruities — no member of a designated victim group is capable of slander. All their pronouncements must be viewed through a relativistic lens born of systemic oppression, racism, discrimination, etc. And the remedy is always the same, megaphones for them, and silence for us.

Well I won't be silent. And I won't stand idly by while good men like Donald Douglas are being pressured into silence. I doubt he'll cave, he's a pretty tough old cuss, but I'm sure that sometimes he wonders if the effort is worth the hassle. To which I'll say, "yes, yes it is." We must stand and fight for that which is Right and Just, even more so when the barbarians are at the gates.

Damn the torpedoes my friend, full speed ahead.

Posted at 11:30 by Chris Wysocki   [/misc]   Comments | Perm Link |
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