I've been giving this subject some thought for quite awhile and then this morning, low and behold, there was an article about it in today's newspaper. After reading the article though, I'm not sure I know anymore than I did before I read it but, here's my take on freedom of speech.
I believe that the first amendment was put into place to protect the people of this country as a whole. Meaning as a free people, we have the right to speak out about issues that we don't agree with or issues that could take our freedom away. I believe it was meant to make sure we could speak out about or against our government without fear of retaliation by the government. It gives us the freedom to debate openly and privately about things that concern us.
I don't think it's original intention was to encourage people to publicly act like morons.
It seems that people have the idea that it is acceptable to be as vulgar and hurtful as they see fit. They can use any sort of profanity at any place and time, after all, they have freedom of speech. They can say things about other people with no regard to who hears them or the effect their words have on others. It is their right, guaranteed by the first amendment. That said, it is also our right to be able to speak out against things we find moronic.
I guess the better word to use would be plain old disrespect and being disrespectful has absolutely nothing to do with free speech. Facebook has taken the idea of free speech to a whole new level. Some of the things people write about others blows me away. My niece said it best when she told her daughter if she wouldn't say something like that to someones' face, then don't write it.
Being respectful of others is not something we are born with. It's something we learn, something we have to be taught. We need to show respect to all people, especially when we disagree. We need to exercise our right of free speech in a way that brings people together, not tear them apart. Screaming and yelling obscenities at each other usually has a pretty negative outcome.
One evening I saw a young man I knew, wearing a tee shirt with the "F" word written on the front in letters big enough to have been read a half mile down the road. I walked over to him and told him I didn't like his shirt and he told me he didn't care. We weren't screaming at each other, just having a normal conversation. I suggested he turn the shirt wrong side out and he told me he didn't like that idea either.
A week or two later I saw him again. This time the shirt had some other indecent phrase on it and when he saw me, he rolled his eyes. Once again I told him I didn't like his shirt and once again he told me he didn't care. Later that evening I overheard him singing along with the music, he had a great voice and as I left, I told him I may not have liked his shirt, but I sure enjoyed his singing.
The next time I saw him, he was looking for me. He walked over to me and proudly showed me his shirt. I read the phrase on it and told him I liked that one. He laughed out loud and was pleased that I was pleased.
Did he go home and destroy all the shirts with the obscenities? I doubt it, but to this day, when he sees me and has one of those on, he covers it up. All it took was showing each other a little respect.
I believe that respect for ourselves and each other would solve a multitude of problems is this country. That is my opinion, that is truth as I see it and this is my freedom of speech.
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