I thought about beginning this post with some choice words just to prove a point, but I felt that was just unnecessary.
There was a time when we as Americans embodied fortitude and strength and resolve. But sadly, today we’ve been so feminized, so hippieized and so weakened by spineless ideologies that people can’t go a whole day without being offended by someone or something. We’ve become so politically correct, censored, and cowardly that the only way to avoid being offensive is to keep yourself locked in the basement, confined in a strait jacket with duct tape over your mouth.
Fran Lebowitz said it best, “Being offended is a natural consequence of leaving the house.”
People have become weak. However the one good thing about this pansy idea of not being offended is that the government, the media, and the church are finally in agreement about something: They all want to censor whoever doesn’t agree with them!
In the United States Declaration of Independence we have the rights to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. Unfortunately some moron back in the day took the idea of the right to “PURSUE happiness” to mean the right “To happiness.” And thus the cycle of wanting to live in a little bubble began. However the right to pursue happiness only gives you the right to do what you can to achieve happiness – provided it does not infringe on anyone else’s rights.
However, once your right to pursue happiness encroaches someone else’s rights you are no longer able to continue your course of action there.
You can enjoy being in a “swear word free zone” as long as you are not forcing others to keep from cursing. Once you begin prohibiting people from saying what they want to say you are violating their “Freedom of Speech”. Our freedom of speech, protected by the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights, is one of our most basic constitutional rights. Yet the precise nature of what is protected by the First Amendment is often misunderstood.
I am such a strong proponent of free speech that I am in a large disagreement with some of my professors and friends. I believe you should have the freedom to say dang well whatever you please. A lot of people don’t know this, but there are certain things you are not allowed to say.
Sadly though, Americans want to be protected from what is contrary to what they find acceptable. And the only way to accomplish this is to infringe on another person’s right.
If someone says something you find offensive you have two options:
1. Take offense, get upset and attempt to censor that person OR
2. Form a sort of personal shield against the “offensive” things that is being said or done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg5zodsZdds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPhje8wepyg&NR=1
Christian brothers, sisters and friends of mine… let me tell you why we MUST allow people to say and do things that are offensive. Why we must allow that teenager on the street to wear his “Fuck You” hat in public. Why we must not attempt to sue people who give us the finger.
When we can start telling people what is offensive and what isn’t… it won’t be long before the government starts telling us what “religious materials” we can share and what we can’t.
In fact, it is already in effect. The government is working on this thing called “hate speech”. Sounds kind of like a violation of our freedom of speech doesn’t it? This is what happens when we have to supposedly be tolerant of everything… except the things that offend us.
“The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.” – Henry Steele Commager
And being offended is GOOD. When you are offended you are demonstrating your ability to distinguish between right and wrong. You have the capability to discern what is acceptable and what is not. Being offended is what we all should do at certain points in our lives, and I encourage you all to be offended! But that does not give you the right to censor those that offend you.
And let me explain to you why you shouldn’t even be offended if someone calls you something:
Lets say someone called you a fat lard.
1. Assuming you are not a fat lard… then why do you care? The person is clearly a moron or they’re not serious.
2. Assuming you ARE a fat lard… you really have no right to be offended by the truth. Take to heart the words of Mary Cheney, “John Kerry didn’t out me, nor did he offend or attack me by calling me a lesbian. I certainly couldn’t be offended by the truth.”
So if I call my friend a faggot, if he isn’t then obviously I’m just messing with him. And if he is, he should be proud of his sexual orientation or whatever. If someone called me a heterosexual I wouldn’t be ashamed and be like “Oh my goodness, you figured it out! How in the world did you know?!?!?” If someone says I’m a white cracker or whatever, well I’m proud of who I am, I don’t care. If someone says I’m too skinny, or too fat, well I sure am. If someone says I have wicked evil tattoos, I probably don’t care what they think, because tattoos aren’t evil… obviously they haven’t done any research. No matter what someone says it doesn’t really matter. You don’t need to be offended.
“The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen. “ ~Tommy Smothers
In the words of Rene Descartes, “Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it.”
Us Christians get offended by a lot these days. And that’s good! I really enjoyed the book by Ryan Dobson. it was called “Be Intolerant: Because Some Things are Just Stupid”. And he’s right. We should not blindly accept what other people are doing. And when people do something that is offensive, don’t accept it. Be firmly against it, but that does not mean you can force that person to stop doing what they’re doing. But since you have a freedom of speech, why not engage them in a rational discussion?
You have the right to be offended. You do not have the right to NOT be offended.
“If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.” -Noam Chomsky