Foundations of Freedom: I live in a country that was founded on a set of principles. A Constitution was adopted, and an additional set of rights, know as the Bill of Rights (or Amendments to the Constitution) was adopted by our Congress. For over 200 years these rights have stood in court as the pillars of our society. One of the best movie lines is Michael Douglas Jr in American President where he is defending the right of his political opponent. He makes the point that even if we passionately disagree, we all have the rights to express our views.
Well, that is unless you are espousing a view that is politically incorrect. I am astonished at how often those rights are trampled. I was moaning to my father that two US Senators (one Republican, one Democrat) wrote to a business telling them that they had to renounce their views on a particular subject. That seemed odd to me. Regardless of the subject (and it was obviously one in which they were personally passionate), who gives them the right to tell a company what views they may or may not have? They are a business and they should certainly have the freedom to have a view for or against something.
Today I read about a girl in the Chicago area who wanted to wear a shirt expressing a view that some might call spiritual, some might call moral, others see as political. You see for one day all of the schools in the area (I assume in the US) celebrate something called "The Day of Silence" to memorialize those poor individuals who have had to suffer for so long in silence with their homosexuality (or as my son is want to say "gayism"). The whole day is dedicated to the homosexual lifestyle. She wants to wear a shirt the following day (allowing them to have their day of celebration) that says "Be Happy, Be Straight". Nope, that is offensive to the homosexual population of the school and the school district has said that she can't wear the shirt. Now, she finds the whole celebration of a day focusing on being gay offensive, but she isn't allowed to say anything because gays are victimized and repressed. Seems to me that the ACLU needs to get involved and help this girl who's rights are being trampled. Sure, like that's going to happen.
But, this is in the same area where they weren't allowed to have a statue of Christ in a manager during a CHRISTmas celebration. How screwed up can we be?
Well, that is unless you are espousing a view that is politically incorrect. I am astonished at how often those rights are trampled. I was moaning to my father that two US Senators (one Republican, one Democrat) wrote to a business telling them that they had to renounce their views on a particular subject. That seemed odd to me. Regardless of the subject (and it was obviously one in which they were personally passionate), who gives them the right to tell a company what views they may or may not have? They are a business and they should certainly have the freedom to have a view for or against something.
Today I read about a girl in the Chicago area who wanted to wear a shirt expressing a view that some might call spiritual, some might call moral, others see as political. You see for one day all of the schools in the area (I assume in the US) celebrate something called "The Day of Silence" to memorialize those poor individuals who have had to suffer for so long in silence with their homosexuality (or as my son is want to say "gayism"). The whole day is dedicated to the homosexual lifestyle. She wants to wear a shirt the following day (allowing them to have their day of celebration) that says "Be Happy, Be Straight". Nope, that is offensive to the homosexual population of the school and the school district has said that she can't wear the shirt. Now, she finds the whole celebration of a day focusing on being gay offensive, but she isn't allowed to say anything because gays are victimized and repressed. Seems to me that the ACLU needs to get involved and help this girl who's rights are being trampled. Sure, like that's going to happen.
But, this is in the same area where they weren't allowed to have a statue of Christ in a manager during a CHRISTmas celebration. How screwed up can we be?
Labels: ACLU, gay, hate speech, Rights
