So this week's blog subject is a little different and requires a different sort of introduction. The prompt is to write about how I would feel if a leader of a known hate group were invited to speak at my school. That is kind of a strange thought to me. My first thought that came to my mind was fat chance! That's the last thing I want to do! Then I thought I have always frowned against hate groups and gangs of all types, but then again if I were to stop this man from voicing his thoughts I would be forcing him to give up his freedom of speech and I am a huge believer in freedom of speech..most of the time.
I think it would be interesting to hear the viewpoints of a person with that kind of social status. I have never been subjected to anything related to that because I was raised in fairly safe family neighborhoods and I was always forced to endure the uniformity (including those awful uniforms) and strict teachings that private schools have to offer lucky students. I've been told more than once, actually more than I can count that I was raised in a very sheltered and protected atmosphere. When I think about it even though these men belong to hate groups and live very different lives they are still people and are worth giving a chance..unless they've committed some unforgivable inhumane act. It might have been something that happened in there lives that left them in such an emotional wreck that motivated them to join a hate group in the first place.
What is freedom of speech exactly? It's the ability and privilege to say what you want when you want. When you were younger whenever you were caught doing something wrong that broke the house rules what happened? Most people are grounded meaning that their privileges are taken away like watching tv, going out, or using the phone. When you were in high school and texted people out of control how did your parents feel about that? They probably punished you by taking away texting..that is if you did not have unlimited texting in the first place ;). The point of my ranting is to prove that when a privilege is abused it is taken away. We may have freedom of speech, but censorship is what is helping us keep it. If this leader were to speak at school I think I would welcome him as I would any other speaker because he deserves that chance to say what he has to say, as long as he doesn't abuse that privilege. Idon't think of the freedoms we are given as freedom I think of them as privileges because America's special in that way. We are offered these wonderful things that other countries have not even considered making legal.
Also, I find it wrong to make assumptions. It is actually one of my biggest pet peeves. To assume is to prove yourself naive and to know is to prove yourself wise. okay okay so I made that up, but sounds like something I could find in a fortune cookie and it sounded good to me. If I was to assume that this leader were automatically a horrible person with no family and no friends and not even give him a chance I might be missing out on an opportunity that I might never have the chance to get back. I hate it when people make assumptions about me so why do it to this person? I know what your thinking, this guy basically builds his hate group off of assumptions of a specific group of people. Have you ever heard of the saying two wrongs don't make a right? I'm sure you have because that one I didn't make up. I'm sure everyone's been told that once or twice by their loving grandmothers. I think maybe we need to heed their words a little more often. I would give him a chance and let him speak his mind because this country is all about giving people the fair chance.
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This is a great post, Amanda. And thank you for your kind words on my post "Let Him Speak". It's interesting to read how similar our opinions are on this subject. As tempting as it may be to simply ban certain "controversial" speakers, allowing such a speaker time in a public setting may be the best way to defuse the hate by shining a little light on the speaker's intentions. If we simply assume that we know the speaker's intention, we may only be fooling ourselves. If the speaker's intention were to stir up hatred and incite violence among the crowd, it would be plainly clear for all in the audience. I believe most of the audience will question the speaker's intentions very carefully.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if the speaker is simply "preaching to the choir" with hate language, then most of the audience likely already agrees with the message and there is not much dialogue happening anyways. Everyone in that scenario already knows the intention of the other and the speaker. Such a scenario occurs rather frequently among skinhead groups, remnants of the KKK and other hate groups. Even with such groups, I would not censor their right to gather and speak on college campuses if they choose. I WOULD leave it to the school's administration as to whether such a speech would endanger the student body - but most likely it would not. If we want young people to fully understand the reason why freedom of speech is so valuable in our society, we have to let even the most questionable speakers have their 15 minutes. Let the truth be the judge and not a government agency that arbitrarily decides who can and who cannot speak. Let them all speak – it’s their right.
Hi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your introduction to this blog. I agree with how you pointed out that if you stop someone from voicing out their opinions, then you will be taking away their freedoms. I also like your following paragraph that you stated your personal experience of how you cannot relate to hate groups because of the sheltered atmosphere you grew up in. I like this paragraph because you explain that you cannot relate to people in hate group, and yet, you are not judging them and you want them to voice out their opinions like everyone else. You stated that we have our privileges taken away when we misuse it. I thought this ties in to the fact that there are consequences for everything an individuals says. For example, screaming FIRE in a crowded movie theater can cause harm to other individuals. Although it is a freedom of speech that is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, there are consequences for what is said. I really liked the quote that you made up “To assume is to prove yourself naïve and to know is to prove yourself wise.” We shouldn’t be judging other people because we wouldn’t want others to judge us. The Golden Rule is prevalent to how we should be treating others…Don’t do what you don’t want done to you. GREAT BLOG.
Dear Poi to Potatoes,
ReplyDeleteYou know what the craziest thing is that I never thought of this that way. I mean I was all against the speaker being able to give his or her speech because I felt it could be mean and hurtful to somebody somewhere. But now that I have read your blog I realize that the only thing that is or could be bad was to keep the person from their right to speak. By not allowing the speaker to giver their speech I am saying that it is okay to remove certain rights from people because this is what I feel is right. I mean come on what we see, as right is not always the case, it all depends on the person’s point of view. By not allowing them to speak is like saying that they are not worthy of getting the same treatment as everyone else which would also violate another right given to us as US citizens. And that is that were all equal and are granted equality. The only way that I would see it suitable is that if this speaker was to have committed some sort of illegal act therefore removing these rights from them because they did something that was against the law but that is just how our law works. Not just take things because we may not like what they have to say.