by Jim
Okay… You would think that such a post would be unnecessary, you would think that people would understand why a universal right to express your opinion is so vital to a free society… nay one of its truest cornerstones.
Once again, you would be going backrupt on your estimation of societal intelligence.
Don’t get me wrong, the majority of people out there are fairly intelligent, but the intelligent majority is also not very vocal. There’s a reason the term ‘vocal minority’ exists.
With the recent rise of violent outbursts at colleges surrounding Milo Yiannopoulos, police afraid to go after child sex traffickers due to fear of being label racist, and a government refusing to label terrorism what it is out of fear or a narrative… suddenly the problems become very clear.
Plus Milo’s speech was cancelled due to riots at UC Berkeley, arguably the birthplace of student Freedom of Speech movements in the U.S. I couldn’t come up with a more eyebrow-raising example if I tried!
Anyway, as a writer who has created stories dealing in social commentary, religion, and to a very minor extent, politics, I can’t stress enough how important free speech is.
Regardless of the content, Freedom of Speech is one of the most important rights we have, second only to the right to life. You don’t have to agree with the content of a person’s message, but as a free person, you do need to acknowledge their right to say it. Why? Because someone may feel the same way about what you have to say, but guess what? He can’t stop you from saying it except under very specific circumstances which I will address below.
So in your opinion, ALL speech should be protected?
No not ALL speech. Inciting violence which can get someone hurt or killed must never be protected. Yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded place is absolutely unacceptable and so on. That should speak for itself.
So what about hate speech?
Yes… Hate speech MUST also be protected.
…
Hear me out! Let’s take a look at movements here in the United States. Look at the KKK, Neo-Nazis, Black Panthers, Black Lives Matter, 3rd Wave Feminism, and most terrorist organizations.
They are all free to express themselves and express their opinions openly without fear of being prosecuted in most Western nations. People can hear their opinions, read their literature, and see for themselves what these people actually stand for.
As a result, most KKK and Neo-Nazi movements are a very tiny minority. Their marches are usually tiny, consisting of only a few to a few hundred people brought in from miles.
Most media that show their support today for BLM or most forms of identity politics are met with extreme scrutiny, see their rating flushed down the drain, and their mediums die. The individuals find themselves locked in small echo chambers surrounded by their like-minded cliques, because there is no other way for them to survive.
Because of this, the main stream media is beginning to fall apart and alternative media is on the rise because people are seeing these people for who and what they are.
Case and point, allowing these people to spew their bile and show what they truly believe and who they truly are is the best weapon we can wield against them. Don’t believe me?
Remember this charlatan?
For the longest time, she hid her bigotry, misandry, and flat out racism under the blanket of social justice. But then on election night, it came out for all to see, and to be honest, I’m glad she said it. I’m glad she has the right to… why? Because everyone saw her for what she is, and they let her know it:
https://twitter.com/ProperJimmy/status/796721139879845892
https://twitter.com/Brandon_Bahret/status/796261726584868864
https://twitter.com/DESTRYUR/status/796263653385371648
People do actually notice. That’s why these movements aren’t getting bigger and why they’re quickly losing ground. Trust me, let the Laci Greens, the Al Sharptons, and the Fred Phelp’s out there spew their hatred. When they do, smile, nod, and turn your back on them and walk away.
Afterwards, vote both with your ballots, your words, and your wallets. Let people know what you think of these people. Vote for candidates who are in YOUR best interest, not who they tell you to, and finally do not endorse them in any way. Stay away from their organizations, their sponsors, and whatever products or companies are behind them.
Do that, and sooner than later, they’ll find themselves alone in a room with the shadows of the people they’ve tried to hurt… suddenly, all their power is gone, and they have to face the specter of what they truly are and what they’ve truly done.
This from the guy who railed against MTV News for their racist New Years Resolution video???
Did you see what I wrote to MTV News about it?
I didn’t want them to take the video down. I recognized their right to say what they said… and I also knew how damaging it would be to their business.
Yeah Jim, that philosophy worked out REALLY well with the Nazis, didn’t it?
Sigh… okay points off for Goodwin’s Law!
In all seriousness though, this is true, so let’s put that into context, shall we? First of all lets look at the National Socialist German Workers’ Party of Germany. Prior to Hitler, they were very small and even after he joined, they were considered by most to be a fringe group.
Hitler was able to gain popularity by spewing well-worded incitement, not only against the Jews, but against society as a whole. The government back then had little power to do anything about it and the people were so poor, so destitute… sadly, a lot of the pictures we see of working-class people from the Weimar Republic are often mistaken for Holocaust photos. These were people desperate for a change and willing to take it in whatever form it came. Not to mention that the culture and climates were considerably different in those days.
In the end, we don’t have to like what people say, but we do have to recognize their right to say it and understand that if what they say is truly despicable, they will be digging their own proverbial graves.
I take it that you’re against political correctness?
Let’s take a look at the definition of it, shall we?
po·lit·i·cal cor·rect·ness
pəˈlidəkəl kəˈrek(t)nəs/
noun
-
the avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.
It’s one of those things that looks good on paper… however… even in its earliest history, it has negative connotations:
– The phrase “politically correct” was associated with the dogmatic application of Stalinist doctrine, debated between Communist Party members and American Socialists.
Project Muse
-“throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the New Left, feminists, and progressives… used their term ‘politically correct’ ironically, as a guard against their own orthodoxy in social change efforts.” –Debra L. Shultz
– “political correctness actually began as an in-joke on the left: radical students on American campuses acting out an ironic replay of the Bad Old Days BS (Before the Sixties) when every revolutionary groupuscule had a party line about everything. They would address some glaring examples of sexist or racist behaviour by their fellow students in imitation of the tone of voice of the Red Guards or Cultural Revolution Commissar: ‘Not very ‘politically correct’, Comrade!’ ” –Stuart Hall
-“What has come to be called “political correctness,” a term that began to gain currency at the start of the academic year last fall, has spread in recent months and has become the focus of an angry national debate, mainly on campuses, but also in the larger arenas of American life.” –Robert D. McFadden
-Political correctness is one of the brilliant tools that the American Right developed in the mid–1980s, as part of its demolition of American liberalism…. What the sharpest thinkers on the American Right saw quickly was that by declaring war on the cultural manifestations of liberalism – by levelling the charge of “political correctness” against its exponents – they could discredit the whole political project. — Will Hutton
The list goes on… on paper it looks like an okay idea. A philosophy by which people self-censor when they think that what they say may hurt another person. However, like so many things that look better on paper than in practices, this philosophy is one of those things that is easily perverted and/or corrupted, particularly in a society where people are far too easily triggered and where we are slowly plunging into the dark area known as ‘thought-policing.’
Yes, forcing people to self-censor… and when they refuse to, assuming that their words are meant to be bigoted or racism… when you get to the point where you don’t only have to worry about what you say, but also what someone might perceive you to be thinking… that is extremely dangerous to the point of an Orwellian threat to a free society.
So yes, in its current societal form, I am against political correctness. Because even in its most basic definition is it anti-free speech.
So write on friends! Write what’s on your mind just write true and don’t do anything that can directly harm another human being. You are free! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!
I would like to close with one of my favorite speeches from a sci-fi fantasy universe that I grew up with. Given the recent climate surrounding this particular universe… the quote is very ironic, but very true nonetheless:
“With the first link, the chain is forged, first speech censured, first thought forbidden, first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably. Those words were utter… as wisdom and warning. The first time any man’s freedom is trodden on, we’re all damaged.” – Captain Jean Luc Picard, Star Trek The Next Generation
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:
http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU
Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!
-Jim
James Harringtons Creative Work 
I’m not sure why you placed the KKK, BLM, and feminism in the same sentence… ? These are vastly different groups. The KKK murdered and terrorized, excuse me, terrorize people, and BLM simply states that black? lives? matter? It’s weird when you think about it. One group kills, the other says, hey- I’m a human, and I matter. that was a lotta commas and dashes but still.
The one thing that comes to mind for me in the “political correctness” matter is the humanity factor. It’s not so much, “I have to censor my speech to you and worry what you will think of it or me” but rather “I am speaking to a human who has probably experienced a much different life trajectory than my own and maybe I should treat this person in front of me (or the idea of this person who reads this post/tweet) like a Person, a human, a thinking living breathing pain-filled being who maybe doesn’t want me to sideways insinuate that they’re less-than or a piece of crap so maybe I should try to be kind or talk as if i am talking to a relative or a good friend, maybe.”
political correctness can be looked at like that and not some over-italicized or wiki-fantasized definition that doesn’t really apply to the nerves or the heart
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Hello! Thanks for taking the time to read my piece.
All right, I’ll try to address each of your points… let’s go through them shall we?
1. “hese are vastly different groups. The KKK murdered and terrorized, excuse me, terrorize people, and BLM simply states that black? lives? matter? It’s weird when you think about it. One group kills, the other says, hey- I’m a human, and I matter. that was a lotta commas and dashes but still.”
TO BE CLEAR VERY CLEAR, I didn’t say feminism, I said 3rd Wave Feminism. I have no issue with feminism as a philosophy nor do I take any issue with the people who went through the suffrage movements over the years. What I take issue with is the current form that feminism has taken. Today we see several feminist extremists advocating genocide based on gender and in more extreme cases, race.
#KillAllMen was meant to be a punchline in feminist circles… but you can easily find it being used seriously. What’s worse, the feminist community seems to turn a blind eye to such things, and by their own standards, if you don’t disparage remarks made by members of your community, you own them. Well… yeah…
As for Black Lives Matter, I wish that were true, but again we’ve seen elements of black lives matter inserting race into things where it doesn’t belong (IE climate change), holding meetings and discriminating based on race, rioting and looting in their own communities, and here in Boston they shut down major highways saying they ‘Wanted to disrupt the lives of white people.’
These aren’t isolated incidents as they continuously happen. People have been badly hurt by these riots and their livelihoods have been ruined.
Not to mention my own experiences where I actually wanted to partake in the movement, but after looking into their initial rally cries, I didn’t see much there. I actually went to people I knew who were advocates for BLM. I asked them what made them think that Michael Brown’s shooting was racially motivated. I wanted to join in protest with them, but I didn’t see anything there that made their anger appropriate. Essentially, show me proof that his death was racially motivated and I’ll be there picketing sign and all.
As of yet, I have yet to get anything resembling a decent response. Just hyperbole and accusations of racism. All for just asking questions.
2.”The one thing that comes to mind for me in the “political correctness” matter is the humanity factor.”
I am certainly glad you see it that way and I think that’s a very positive thing. To me, that means you have a level head, but even so, why should we assume that a person of another gender or race would be hurt by the truths and realities we live in every day? If we are to truly respect them, should we not treat them as mature individuals who should be able to handle opposing viewpoints?
The point is that political correctness doesn’t work because in this day and age people are either deliberately or as a result of poor upbringing, too sensitive. It is at this point where pretty much anything you say can be triggering, so its hard to engage in debate or cultural exchanges at all. That equals a further divide among people of different walks of life, a notion that is far from American and far from pro-free speech.
Anyway, thanks for your thought-provoking response! It’s always good to have an exchange with an opposing viewpoint.
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Little lost on some of your comments and logic. Laci Green and racism? But free speech and all, right?
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No problem… so lets look at the definition of racism, shall we?
rac·ism
ˈrāˌsizəm/Submit
noun
prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.
“a program to combat racism”
synonyms: racial discrimination, racialism, racial prejudice, xenophobia, chauvinism, bigotry, casteism
“Aborigines are the main victims of racism in Australia”
the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.
noun: racism
“theories of racism”
Laci Green in taking a strike at white people, assuming that white men were the reason Donald Trump won, and the assumption based on her remarks that it was due to racism or a perceived patriarchy, is in and of itself racism. She could have just as easily said ‘fuck you right wingers’ ‘fuck you conservatives’ ‘fuck you republicans’ but instead she went directly to gender and skin color.
Also please note, I’m not saying that what she said should be taken down or that she should be made to apologize or anything like that. She said what she said and it should stand so that people out there can read it, react to it, and form their own opinions about her and her beliefs and standings.
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Couldn’t agree more. Those who profess to be tolerant these days often turn out to be the least tolerant. They exist within their own little bubbles and can’t think outside them, unwilling to listen to other opinions. Society is fracturing as a result
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Disengage brain, open mouth…….. That’s okay. FSM! (Free Speech Matters!)
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LOL yeah, but that tends to be when we see the real truth comes out.
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Now somewhere along the line we shouldn’t be agreeing, on account of me being doctrinal Left-Wing (think of me as being sort of 1984-ish only in Room 101 we talk you to death); at least that’s where my heart is Strictly Ordered Society (Don’t argue. We know best)….HOWEVER having read much history both political and military (I’m probably repeating myself, I usually do) my head has concluded that Freedom of Speech in some form is necessary.
So I have resolved to try and talk to everyone no matter what side they come from. One thing I will stand by is my extreme intolerance of Intolerance of any sort by anyone. Doctrine doesn’t count. Talking & discussion does.
I’m straying off topic a bit here, but more examples of the extreme
Over here is the UK thanks to the fashionable Left-Wing being patronisingly concerned about Palestinian rights (never mind what the Palestinian governments get up to behind closed doors) and condemning Israel at every turn (instead of making common cause with the Israeli-left wing parties), we have now Anti-Semitism on the rise.
And thanks to the UK govt trying to clumsily scare everyone over the Brexit referendum, their more rational arguments were ignored and the opposition in turn successfully scaring everyone about immigration we now have attacks against anyone of the wrong skin colour, accent or surname on the rise.
(I’m going to lie down now before I start ranting as to why my kind of Social Govt is a good thing)
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