Free or Offensive?
I've got to say that I'm pretty concerned about a trend that is becoming worse and worse in this country: A lockdown on offensive free speech.
It now appears that free speech no longer applies if you offend someone publicly. In that case you should lose your job and be publicly chastised for being racist, sexist, homophobic or any other kind of bigot. Oh, and don't bother apologizing because it won't matter to the offended. They'll want your head on a silver platter, but since that's not entirely legal they'll go for your paycheck and reputation instead.
Now I don't want to come across as someone who agrees with the offensive things that are said. They're usually in poor taste, tactless, and indeed offensive. But, by golly, they have a right to say it in our country! The First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees their right to say what they want to say.
Who are we to begin slowly and unofficially putting limits on our Constitution? Who are we to say to someone else that their speech should be limited just because it's offensive? Free speech is too important, even if it means that it allows something we don't like or makes us feel uncomfortable. No matter how poor the taste of the speech and how "wrong" it is, we shouldn't start limiting our Constitution.
What we really need to do in correlation with promoting free speech is practice forgiveness. Jesus Christ told us to forgive "seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:21-22). Along with forgiving someone for saying something offensive we need to reach out to those people to show them who we really are or how things really ought to be. I would think that firing the guy is too easy of a way out. It really doesn't make anyone involved feel that much better anyway.
It now appears that free speech no longer applies if you offend someone publicly. In that case you should lose your job and be publicly chastised for being racist, sexist, homophobic or any other kind of bigot. Oh, and don't bother apologizing because it won't matter to the offended. They'll want your head on a silver platter, but since that's not entirely legal they'll go for your paycheck and reputation instead.Now I don't want to come across as someone who agrees with the offensive things that are said. They're usually in poor taste, tactless, and indeed offensive. But, by golly, they have a right to say it in our country! The First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees their right to say what they want to say.
Who are we to begin slowly and unofficially putting limits on our Constitution? Who are we to say to someone else that their speech should be limited just because it's offensive? Free speech is too important, even if it means that it allows something we don't like or makes us feel uncomfortable. No matter how poor the taste of the speech and how "wrong" it is, we shouldn't start limiting our Constitution.
What we really need to do in correlation with promoting free speech is practice forgiveness. Jesus Christ told us to forgive "seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:21-22). Along with forgiving someone for saying something offensive we need to reach out to those people to show them who we really are or how things really ought to be. I would think that firing the guy is too easy of a way out. It really doesn't make anyone involved feel that much better anyway.
posted by Michael Buttgen - The "Barefoot Voice" at
08:01
2 Comments:
It's one big circle... the offended parties are just as free to publicly chastise the offender and call for him to lose his job. Going after someone else's paycheck and reputation with their words is *their* free speech.
By
Anonymous, at 12:16 PM, April 11, 2007
"Going after someone" isn't free speech. That's harassment.
Stirring up hatred evidently is free speech, since the KKK is protected by law. So both sides can go ahead and do that.
-rtb
By
Anonymous, at 5:25 PM, April 11, 2007
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