What happened in Chicago this week
On Friday I returned from a pleasure trip, and decided today that I would catch up with the news. What I saw was disturbing. For a moment, I was reminded of the violence at the 1968 Democratic Convention.
Let me start by saying that I am NOT a Donald Trump supporter. The man is an arrogant boor, laboring under the misconception that business success. and the resulting fat checkbook, confer class and intelligence. They do not. He is living proof of that.
That having been said, the protesters who managed to silence he and his supporters with violence and threats in Chicago this week were dead wrong. I have written previously of the need to defend the freedom of speech diligently, even the speech of those with whom we disagree. For the life of me, I have never understood the propensity of some, on both ends of the political spectrum, to want to silence their opposition.
Are they truly afraid of ideas?
The freedoms spelled out in our Bill of Rights are not just nice words. They are the conditions of the rights "endowed by our Creator" that are so eloquently listed in the Declaration of Independence. Even if you do not believe in a Creator, those rights define us as human beings. Without those rights, we become something less than human, and when we deprive others of those rights, we dehumanize them.
That is truly self evident, or it should be.
In practice, the First Amendment means that you have a right to verbalize your opinion, but no right to silence anyone else when they exercise that right.
Many, many have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our freedoms.
Returning from Atlanta on Friday to Pittsburgh, our flight was privileged to be accompanying the body of an American soldier who had fallen in battle, and the U.S. Army Staff Sergeant who was escorting him home for burial. When our flight pulled up to the gate in Pittsburgh, the plane was met by a military honor guard who unloaded the flag draped casket and carried it to the waiting hearse. The Delta Airline crew, and the airport employees on the flight line stood in reverent silence during the ceremony with the police and military guard.
Almost all of the passengers went to the gate to watch though the glass, though some remained on the aircraft, and watched through the windows. It was obvious who among the passengers and ground crew had seen military service, both men and women, because they stood at attention. To a person, however, all held a reverent silence until the hearse pulled away.
Every single person present understood the nature of the sacrifice that soldier had made, and why he was willing to make it.
So, next time you feel the need to silence a person with a different opinion, shouting them down, charging them with "hate speech", threatening, or even inflicting violence, ask your self just two simple questions:
Would I be willing to die defending my right to express my opinion?
Would I be willing to die to defend others' rights to the same?
Be honest. Would you?
If you would use a mob to silence others, then I suspect your answer will be "no".
Let me start by saying that I am NOT a Donald Trump supporter. The man is an arrogant boor, laboring under the misconception that business success. and the resulting fat checkbook, confer class and intelligence. They do not. He is living proof of that.
That having been said, the protesters who managed to silence he and his supporters with violence and threats in Chicago this week were dead wrong. I have written previously of the need to defend the freedom of speech diligently, even the speech of those with whom we disagree. For the life of me, I have never understood the propensity of some, on both ends of the political spectrum, to want to silence their opposition.
Are they truly afraid of ideas?
The freedoms spelled out in our Bill of Rights are not just nice words. They are the conditions of the rights "endowed by our Creator" that are so eloquently listed in the Declaration of Independence. Even if you do not believe in a Creator, those rights define us as human beings. Without those rights, we become something less than human, and when we deprive others of those rights, we dehumanize them.
That is truly self evident, or it should be.
In practice, the First Amendment means that you have a right to verbalize your opinion, but no right to silence anyone else when they exercise that right.
Many, many have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our freedoms.
Returning from Atlanta on Friday to Pittsburgh, our flight was privileged to be accompanying the body of an American soldier who had fallen in battle, and the U.S. Army Staff Sergeant who was escorting him home for burial. When our flight pulled up to the gate in Pittsburgh, the plane was met by a military honor guard who unloaded the flag draped casket and carried it to the waiting hearse. The Delta Airline crew, and the airport employees on the flight line stood in reverent silence during the ceremony with the police and military guard.
Almost all of the passengers went to the gate to watch though the glass, though some remained on the aircraft, and watched through the windows. It was obvious who among the passengers and ground crew had seen military service, both men and women, because they stood at attention. To a person, however, all held a reverent silence until the hearse pulled away.
Every single person present understood the nature of the sacrifice that soldier had made, and why he was willing to make it.
So, next time you feel the need to silence a person with a different opinion, shouting them down, charging them with "hate speech", threatening, or even inflicting violence, ask your self just two simple questions:
Would I be willing to die defending my right to express my opinion?
Would I be willing to die to defend others' rights to the same?
Be honest. Would you?
If you would use a mob to silence others, then I suspect your answer will be "no".
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