Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Freedom of speech?

We live in a country that claims it has both "freedom of speech" and "political correctness". But the way I see it, they are two mutually exclusive things. Freedom of speech means being able to say what you think. Political correctness means not offending anyone. What if what I think offends someone? Should I not say it? Ever? There are times when it is better to risk offense and say something important, than to keep quiet because you are afraid of what others might say or think. There are, also, some things that should not be said, but that is different than not saying something to avoid risk of offense. For example, if I were to state my opinion that homosexuality is morally wrong (to touch a hot button), some people would become offended. Not to mention I would be politically incorrect. But I do believe homosexuality is wrong (please note: not more wrong than other sexual sins, I'm singling it out because it is such a hot topic these days), and you cannot tell me to be quiet because that is taking away my right to free speech. If you want to offend no one, the best course would be to never say anything at all.
One addition to this would be that I believe the "do-gooders" are more sensitive than the people they are trying to do good by. The majority of animal rights people are absolutely ridiculous. But that's a different story. Making it illegal to spank your children is also stupid. How are you supposed to teach them if you can't punish them?
And finally, I am going to exercise my right to freedom of speech, and say that I realized today that I judge people's intelligence on their vocabulary. People who do not know any more adjectives than the f word are none too bright. In high school, we were taught not to use the same describing word more than once a paragraph, if not once a page. When people only know one adjective, and feel the need to put it in front of every noun, they not only sound stupid, they more than likely are a bit. Broaden your vocabulary.

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