“Silence = murder.”
I saw a sign with that slogan in my town. I’ve seen many more pictures with similar slogans.
So you must speak!!
But “incorrect” speech will get you banned, shunned, fired, and you’ll probably get death threats.
This adds up to a simple paradigm: you must agree with the fashionable interpretation of the facts, or your life is over.
I don’t know enough about the French Revolution to say if the tweet is correct, but it certainly resonates. I can easily see how we’d get to such a point.
Seems we’ve been heading in an ugly direction for some time. A couple of years ago Fox News host, Laura Ingram, disagreed with a political statement from sports figures, LeBron James and Kevin Durant and told them to “shut-up and dribble”. She felt “then” that it was best for sports figures to “keep the political commentary to themselves”. Yet, she recently came to the defense of Drew Brees, another sports figure, when he received blow back for his recent public statement. She indicated he had a right to speak about what was important to him.
Hmm…that’s interesting. One sports figure apparently has a right to speak and the other should just shut-up and dribble. Funny how this free speech thing works. It definitely can get ugly, at times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8PcOhY1LHk
Yes, everybody is a hypocrite, but I think what we’re seeing now goes beyond mere hypocrisy — especially in the idea that you’re not even allowed to just be quiet. You must speak.
It is not new for certain people to believe in enforced speech. For a very long time there have been advocates for making students say the Pledge of Allegiance, for example. But I wouldn’t be afraid of some mere protesters, who are apparently mainly reacting against “silence” in the sense of just letting racism run its course. I’m against that too. When you can stop of an act of violence, you really should do so.
“But I wouldn’t be afraid of some mere protesters, who are apparently mainly reacting against “silence” in the sense of just letting racism run its course.”
That is precisely the problem — the assumption that silence means what you think it means.
I can and probably often does mean that. Not necessarily of course.
*It can
@Crowhill, what’s wrong with strongly urging people to speak out concerning American ideals infused into the Constitution such as truth, justice and equality? If I recall correctly, you had a “similar” notion about the virtues of using guilt to promote conformity to good social norms.
Also, those who are currently expressing their opinions by and large don’t have institutional power to “force” those who desire to remain silent to speak. In a country that extols the virtues of free speech, having people strongly encouraging others to speak out on critical social matters seems reasonable. Unfortunately, in some circumstances, the consequence of silence could be murder. Former officer Chauvin could have gotten away without prosecution if others remained silent. Maybe speaking out can prevent another such grotesque, inhumane murder.
So, to quote the great Laura Ingram, “every American has a God-given right to speak his or her own mind on any issue. And, I think, in order to heal and shed light on gross injustices, our country need more dialogue, not less.” Given she says she believes this, I still wonder why she didn’t remember this virtue when she told some other Americans to “shut up and dribble” (uttering this to millions of viewers)?
People can “speak out” all they like. But saying “you must parrot what I say or you are a Nazi and deserve the guillotine” is a very different thing.
>those who are currently expressing their opinions by and large don’t have institutional power to “force” those who desire to remain silent to speak
How many people have lost their jobs, their reputation and any chance of a prosperous future because they dared to cross the politically correct?
> How many people have lost their jobs, their reputation and any chance of a prosperous future because they dared to cross the politically correct?
You only need to cancel a handful of people pour encourager les autres. Next thing you know, people are apologising for their insufficiently abject first apology when no apology was needed in the first place. Which sounds like an exaggeration, but exactly this pattern has happened over the last few days in fields as distinct as football and comic books.
Having even a vague Christian memory of the merits of confession is actually a negative now, because our new religion has no forgiveness, even for the deeply penitent. Admitting to any type of failure in response to an accusation — even if justified — just serves to prove you deserve what you get.
True.
But just think of what some people, hard to say how many, have lost because of racism. Far too many have lost their lives and something must be done about it.
I mentioned on twitter that my step-daughter got called a “white supremacist.” If you look at her, no way you’d think so. First, she’s not even an American citizen. She’s a Mexican citizen and spent first 16 years of her life in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
She was at a coffee shop with her Venezuelan boyfriend on a Sunday night just enjoying herself. Up to her table comes some black guy with a BLM t-shirt asking her if he can talk. She says ok, which she later regrets. He starts grilling her and at some point she says she thinks the looting and burning of businesses is wrong. Dude says, “well, what about the Tulsa race riots where they burned down all the black businesses?” She responds basically with the two wrongs don’t make a right. This happened 99 years ago. Only a handful of people are alive who experienced it.
After her response, he starts calling her a white supremacist. Yeah, whatever.
Sorry. As if she’s in any way responsible for the Tulsa riots. :/
I’m afraid we’re in a time when it’s best not to speak with strangers.
This is what happens when some strangers interact…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCsnT382cw4