nelg said:
Show me someone who is not a socialist before they are twenty and I will show you someone without a heart. Show me someone who is a socialist by the age of thirty and I will show you someone without a brain.
Oh there is so much truth in this....
Well. Unfortunately politics is not a fun game, people have their thoughts and aspirations absolutely crushed in the political world. It never really was a pleasant forum. The problem is that the truth often entails some of the most painful realities. Personally I find the idea that if your opinion is offending it ought not to be spoken, very offensive. FREEDOM OF SPEECH is an inherent right but these "hate crime" ideas are a massive affront to the basic human right of freedom of speech. While I am not sure if you are making purposefully making parallels here (not that it matters as the mentality is identical.) I am making the connection to the way you feel and this popular political movement.
The truth is that dialogue does not calculate your way of thinking and gleefully stomps your feelings in the name of finding out the objective truth. Freedom of speech permits and I believe even invites offensive speech and in a proper “liberal democracy†the only justifiable way to decide what is right is by public condemnation.
It is an exceptionally untrustworthy attitude that we should not hurt others with words, not simply being a social moor but backed by laws and policemen, even if all we are doing is saying the truth. Truly this is a massive attempt to control not only what people are aloud to say but an effort to control what people are allowed to think. It is an alarming affron not just to civil liberties, but to everyone's analysis, a principle to create a society where the primary rules are think nice, say nice and be nice. Today, it seems, there is some sort of societal "right", not to be offended. It seems now in my country freedom of speech has been shot down and turned into a crime. “The truth hurts†could not be better placed and while I understand it does not always hurt ….. it does often.
It is our responsibility in a free society to put up with criticism from any direction. We have a moral obligation to have a thick skin. No proposition should ever disqualified by suppressing the idea. The only way to eradicate a bad idea is by revealing it and decimating it with superior ones. The idea of free thinking is not only free thinking for those who agree with us, but for thinking we hate as well. Ironically the left is moving hard against the same freedom of speech they used in the past to get where they are now, what a creative bunch. Now they have the moral compass in their hands they are making serious efforts to stifle dissenting voices of their policy.
K.I.L.E.R. the shame here is that you would rather spend time in jail with someone whom would likely physically abuse you (BTW I can only assume that your being entirely cynical with this statement.) then simply enjoy free and open debate the later being something that isn’t done enough in our democracy and this is because of complaints the likes of yours. [disclaimer] not intended to be offensive. *cough* [/disclaimer]
