From: Scott Keen
Columbus
The United States was founded on freedom of speech. Immigrants settled here to think and say what they believed without the oppressive bonds of a monarchy or an assigned religion.
Now almost 250 years later, our MAGA president-king is using government power to dictate what American citizens and businesses can say, hear and revere.
This intensified attack from the right-wing “thought police” was triggered after a mentally ill individual shot and killed conservative organizer Charlie Kirk at a college rally. It was a senseless murder and graphic social media videos only made it worse.
I didn’t know much about Kirk, but I certainly never though he deserved to be murdered for expressing ideas. The obvious companion to “Freedom of speech” must be “Thou shalt not kill.”
Meanwhile, anybody noting that Kirk has said some lousy things is pilloried for exercising the free speech Kirk espoused. Because of this specific gun death (BTW, a person dies from guns in the U.S. every 11 minutes), MAGA is trying to baselessly paint the amorphous “left” as bloodthirsty killers.
Are these the same MAGA-derided anti-war, latte-drinking, “woke” lefties that can’t even control their uppity women? Are citizens that generally don’t support the death penalty, aren’t gun nuts, and support universal health care suddenly vicious trained assassins who must be silenced?
Private businesses are pressured into censoring and firing employees via government coercion. American comedians, vanguards of free speech, are censored for making critical comments about national issues that rub Trump the wrong way.
(If you want some pure Trump-approved doubleplusgood MAGAspeak, watch the painful “Gutfield” and see if being cruel and unfunny entertains you.)
Indiana’s universities are being hijacked and controlled by right wing extremists. IU was recently named the third-worst university in the U.S. for free speech. Notre Dame, a private religious university, has been “investigated” because of faith-oriented DEI policies.
Private media, our Fourth Estate and national watchdog according to the Constitution, is censored, marginalized and belittled by the dogmatic White House press secretary and our bizarrely socialist president, who seeks government control of private industry. Reality is what the MAGA Ministry of Truth says it is.
Trump’s speech is vile. At Kirk’s peculiar Christian memorial,Trump said “I hate my opponent.” He has said he hates Democrats.
Do all Republicans hate Democrats? Do my local Republican officials, who I like, hate me, a dangerous Democrat, too?
I enjoy my own fragile freedom of speech partly by writing opinion letters and signing my name. As a hated leftie, I try to be reality based (Stephen Colbert said,”Reality has a well-known liberal bias”.)
Many may think I am weird or stupid, and they may be right, but it is a citizen’s right to be weird or stupid or even (ick) vile and hateful. Uncle Sam can’t tell us what to say or hear.
But please, “Prove me wrong” using your own free speech, not a gun.
