We are in an age of blame right now. If things go wrong, we blame outside factors. If we can’t support our stances when called on our B.S., we cite or blame our freedoms, thinking that’s enough to end the debate. It’s not enough and never will be.
Yes, this article, as well as the much longer online-only supplement, is on our freedom of speech. While it is a freedom that cannot be infringed upon by government, people forget about one important thing. It is naturally limited by reason. Freedom of speech is the freedom to complain and have your own opinions. However, opinions and complaints should be backed up by facts.
Why do people think that it’s unlimited freedom? Quite a few are either too set in their ways or just too apathetic to interpret the first amendment with any more depth than what is taught in a grade school social studies and/or history class. They blindly put faith in a freedom that they know the basic wording of, yet either don’t know or don’t care about the full extent or responsibilities of their freedoms.
Without reason, humanity is lost. We revert back to dumb, panicky animals that want to fulfill our desires regardless of who or what it harms. Former President Bush’s administration and corporate America are great examples of this. This factor worsens when we are in groups that aren’t reasoning very well. This is when the mob mentality kicks in, which can manifest itself in an amplification of desperate or negative thoughts that might already exist within the group. In this way, any idiotic or bigoted ideas being thrown into the open have a greater effect.
That concept’s prime historical example was during Hitler’s reign over Germany. People were desperate, and seeking someone to take responsibility and fix things for them. It took one person with the ability to speak well (he wrote horribly, but spoke well) to seduce the masses and plunge the nation into the fervor of bandwagon hatred. This is often referred to as groupthink. Free speech without anything resembling reason just opens up a lot of doors to really ugly options.
Sometimes you’ve just got to think before you open your mouth, especially if you’re in a group.