You Can’t Touch This
Freedom of speech is, perhaps, the most important freedom enumerated in the Bill of Rights. With out freedom of speech society can not better itself. In order to better itself, society must solve existing problems and improve upon intrenched but deficient customs that bog it down. In order to solve problems and correct maladaptive customs, however, individuals in that society must first IDENTIFY WHAT IS WRONG. In order to do that, individuals in that society MUST have the right to speak freely with out fear of government and societal reprisal. Freedom of speech is essential for societies to make correct decisions, improve and make progress.
It is vital, therefore, that the major free speech forums of academia and television remain receptive to the unfettered flow of ideas. Over the past ten years, however, there has been a frightening roll back in the flow of ideas in our country.
The chief culprits have been the acolytes of “political correctness” or P.C. for short. For true P.C. believers, there are many ideas that are so unacceptable that they can not even be MENTIONED, let alone discussed and debated! And I’m not referring, here, to disgusting topics like sadomasochism or child pornography. I’m referring to things like skepticism of global warming, for example, or the belief that it might not be such a good idea to let sexually disoriented males use the ladies room! The P.C. Police are out there, and MUMS THE WORD!
Then there are the a priori judgements of which speakers can and can not even be LISTENED TO! The most flagrant recent example is Brandeis University’s decision to rescind it’s invitation to Ms. Hirsi Ali to SPEAK at the University. Ms. Ali, having been born and raised a Muslim, would, accordingly, be expected to have intimate first hand knowledge of the religion of Islam, which was the topic of her address. Under pressure from P.C. and Islamic activists, however, Brandeis ultimately decided that she was “unacceptable” as a speaker because she has been critical of many aspects of the religion of her birth! Along similar lines, a distinguished writer for the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Jason Riley, was recently disinvited from speaking at Virginia Tech, because some of his commentary was considered inflammatory to the black students on campus. Mr. Riley, by the way, IS BLACK! His “unacceptable” thesis is that many liberal policies, though well intentioned, were actually harmful to blacks. Now, it used to be, in academia, that you would listen to an argument, consider it, and THEN decide whether or not it had merit. Not any more! We must not even LISTEN to it! Going one step farther, there was even a movement not long ago to PROSECUTE, under a supposed RICHO statute, scientists that were critical of global warming theories! To PROSECUTE scientists for their beliefs! “DENIERS!” Sure sounds like 1984, doesn’t it?
This phenomena of, what I’ll refer to as “Forbidden Speech” becomes more than a societal quirk however, when it begins to effect public policy. When one can not even MENTION, for example, the fact that Sharia law is ABSOLUTELY INCOMPATIBLE with the Constitution of the United States of America, how can our society make correct decisions regarding the immigration of proponents of such a law?
So, ladies and gentlemen, be aware of the P.C. police lurking among us. Be aware of the thought police. Do NOT mention ANYTHING that may be “unacceptable”. Like the song goes: “YOU CAN’T TOUCH THIS!”