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In reply to the discussion: Orlando played host to Muslim speaker’s call for death to gays, just weeks ago [View all]Akicita
(1,196 posts)Last edited Wed Jun 15, 2016, 11:34 AM - Edit history (1)
the ridicule they deserve.
Fetishizing free speech? What the hell is that? A way to put down a basic right? Like fetishizing abortion, fetishizing equal rights, fetishizing the environment, fetishizing equal pay, fetishizing women's rights, fetishizing minority rights, etc. What an infantile way to put something down.
You're right. Our press is in the hands of the rich and powerful. Unfortunately, so is our government. You want the rich and powerful who control our government to decide what people can and cannot say. I am aghast at that. It would only cement their grip on power.
Many people with totalitarian leanings are more than happy to see those they disagree with silenced. But if and when the shoe is on the other foot and it is the people they agree with who are silenced, they are not so happy.
I don't want this country to become one where the rich and powerful, who control our politicians to a great degree, get to decide what people say and think. You might think they would be benevolent rulers, but I think they have shown they will put their own interests first.
It was free speech that allowed the abolitionists to speak out against the evil of slavery. It was free speech that allowed MLK to march and forced racist laws to be overturned. It is free speech that is changing views towards the LBGT community. It is free speech that allows us to express outrage against the Orlando massacre. We are free to make up our own minds about what or who is to blame, whether it be guns, Christians, radical Islam, homophobia, or whatever. We all have a right to our opinion and a right to express that opinion. We don't need the government to force us to accept whatever it is in their best interests to blame.