I am a twenty-six-year-old male living in a very blue, liberal city. I did not come from riches, or privilege, and with a left-wing narrative being pushed from these three main local news stations it begs the question how do you get the full picture if you only hear one side of the political spectrum day in and day out? The caricature of what I am supposed to be a racist who hates minorities, a sexist who hates women, a homophobe who hates gay people, and someone who is unintelligent, very slow in my speech and someone who happens to believe in fairy tales simply due to the fact I believe in the Holy Bible.
In America I can write articles, and opinion pieces like this said one, not get fired from a job simply because I disagree with maybe the main headlines or other journalists of the company, or any company I would work for who might lean in a different political. I can feel however I want to feel, and no one can force me to feel any different, or tell me what I am supposed to think. I am an adult, an able-bodied adult who can make his own personal decisions, who does not need the government being his nanny from birth to the grave. I do not have the right to not be offended, and I don’t have to stand for things I do not believe in to keep a job, that is called “selling out.”
Free speech matters because if I am regulated about what I can or cannot say, then it is quite possible that my political rivals will also not be allowed to say what they believe in the future. If a conservative president feels the liberal media is false and wants to censor them, he or she can if the previous liberal president has censored conservative media. The point is if we want our case to be represented, preserved, and the right to be said, we also have to allow others with opinions that differ from ours to speak, even if they are not highly educated on a subject, or the way it is said, is not flowery, but in fact harsh, and is critical of the thinking the original speaker says. I am no stranger to criticism, I love social media posts, love putting my views out there, but if I place a view out there, then I am automatically put in a position to defend my case. If I cannot defend my case then my position is a weak case, and I need to educate myself on all sides to find the best probable solution to the problem.
Lets take for the matter of Colin Kapernick and the controversy of him kneeling during the National Anthem and the U.S. Flag. I as a proud conservative found his actions to be anti-American things, and very distasteful, but, I feel the need to say in this country he has the freedom to disrespect the flag, and our anthem. This being said, he has the freedom only to disrespect our flag, and our anthem, he does not have the freedom to ignore the consequences of his freedom. This means once he chooses an action he will suffer criticism as everyone once they make a choice. The left wingers argue if you are against Colin Kapernick you are standing for racism because Kapernick was fighting against police brutality that occurs to the black community. Kapernick has a right to stand for that, no one should tell him he cannot. The right wingers however feel that it is wrong to disrespect America, the U.S. national anthem, and the flag because this attacks patriotism, and the American way. I as a conservative feel that if Colin Kapernick really wants to be effective in fighting police brutality he should have done it during the summer when he was off season. He is working for the NFL and should have abided by NFL rules.
But back to the main point I am not a political strategist, I am not a journalist. I am an American citizen and despite not having these two backgrounds just like Kapernick him being a football, he too can feel whatever feelings he wants, and should not be censored, but likewise if we really want our voices to be heard, we should not silence anyone’s point of view, despite if they agree with us or not. To live in a free society, words, speech, art, etc, even if I or the reader of it doesn’t agree with it should not be censored. The reason one should allow it even if it’s vulgar is one to show the character of the person, and two to show people aren’t all the same and may not latch on or agree with the speech. Speech must be protected even if it’s hate, or unfair, we’re grown adults mostly who read, and write, we cannot let words, hurt our feelings. Free speech means all speech should be protected. To quote Volitaire, I not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it.
