Sunday, May 25, 2014

PROGRESSIVE THOUGHT

I've certainly tried to understand the progressive mindset, but despite my best efforts I just don't get it.  What's behind all of this "political correctness?"  What is to be gained from putting all these restrictions on free speech?  I know that I shouldn't put too much into this, but the constant assault on free speech is, to me, very problematic.  I've always thought that the best way to root out those whose speech is offensive is to let those people speak.  For the most part people who are idiots are very easily identified when they open their mouth and foul the air.  As Mark Twain said, " It's better to be thought an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." 


There is a lot of ground to plow here, but I'll just refine myself to the best.  I think that restricting free speech is tantamount to destroying the basis of democracy.  When the government is allowed to restrict speech, or to pick who can speak and who can't, we're no longer truly free.  There is a lot of speech I find objectionable.  But I never will accept that the speech that is objectionable should be restricted. Expose it to the air.  Allow the people who are asses to expose themselves as asses.  Since when has speech become fatal? 


If someone says something that pisses you off, engage them in debate.  In my classes, I tell my students that it's not my job to tell them what to think.  It's my job to tell them how to think.  What they think is their business.  If they learn to objectively research their point of view they are now a critical thinker.  And that's what being an American has always been about.  Don't allow someone to tell you what to think.  You're an individual.  Arrive at a decision because you researched and thought about it and this is the best conclusion you can reach.  However, remember, you can change your conclusion as you learn more.  Be open to new information. 


Anyone who tries to tell you what to think is anti-free speech.  As a police officer I stood between KKK members and anti-KKK demonstrators.  The toughest part was keeping them apart.  The only group that everyone hated was the police.  But it was important that the KKK have its say.  Speak out loud and allow people to judge what you say.  The first amendment must protect the most offensive speech, no matter how offensive it is, or it's just a bunch of words. 


Let me take on one of my pet peeves, "hate crimes."  I've seen homicides and lots of death in my life and I'm appalled by gratuitous violence.  I don't ever remember, while at a homicide scene, thinking to myself, did the killer really hate the person that was murdered?  I'm convinced that if you kill someone, you don't like them.  Hate crime legislation seeks to get into the mind of the killer to find out what they thought.  I knew that if the killer hated the victim because of race, ethnicity, religion, or other factors, the victim wasn't more dead.  Take it from me, dead is dead.  My objection is that "Hate Crime" legislation criminalizes thought.  Somehow if someone is killed because of race or other factors it's worse.  No it isn't.  They're dead.  That's horrific.  Period.  "Hate Crime" legislation is feel-good BS.  Nothing more. 


Progressives want to tell us what to think.  When we allow them to do this we allow them to control us. 

7 comments:

Constitutional Insurgent said...

Well put. There is no "hate crime", there is only crime. The emotions behind the act are not only not relevant, they are not punishable......at least under any form of logic. It's the act that steals, injures or kills a citizen....not the angst, hate or phobia that may fuel the immature mind.

It's the act that must be punished. Not assertions of motive, proffered by a grievance industry.

Law and Order Teacher said...

CI,
Thanks for the visit. I don't know how this became the right thing to do, but as a police officer I was appalled at the stupidity and unconstitutional nature of these laws.

Z said...

The HATE CRIME thing is kind of funny when we put it in that way; if you KILL someone, how's it not HATE?
I feel the same about TERRORIST ACT....people say it's not a terrorist attack all the time, when someone's shot a bunch of people, and I think HOW'S THAT NOT TERROR?

Regarding free speech, it's the Left who's always accused the Right of limiting it; we see really awful immoral things that kids are subjected to and, when we speak up, we're accused of shutting down free speech! But, let the left shut down speech and they don't even notice what they're doing!?

Great post, L&O, as usual.

Law and Order Teacher said...

Z,
Thanks for the visit. I've been critical of hate crime legislation for many years. I think a step towards stifling free speech is taken when you curb what people can say. How's that not unconstitutional?

Mustang said...

Progressive is one of the great American political lies; it is nothing of the kind.

Ducky's here said...

"In my classes, I tell my students that it's not my job to tell them what to think."

Seems an odd statement from somebody who puts "American Exceptionalism" on the board and leaves it there all year.

How do progressives think? They think like everyone else.
They just don't draw your conclusions about Locke and the cult of property, or they understand the importance of leftist though in our development or they just don't have the same goals you do.
It's not hard to understand.

So cherry pick a few topics, claim that political correctness is strictly a left wing idea (you ever watch Fox Snooze?) and define your world as strictly circumscribed as you like but don't try to lay this of entirely on the left.

Ducky's here said...

@CI - proffered by a grievance industry.

----
You mean like Hobby Lobby?

Give it a rest.