"Lord, in the name of Jesus, bless Pres. Obama and his family. Lead him and guide him. Strengthen him to do his job and bring You glory. Help him to repair the mess that he has inherited from the Bush administration. Remove the hatred the Republicans generate. Amen." - Cynthia, after President Obama's 2011 State of the Union Address.
"I can't think of a single public school worth lying to get into...the whole education system is terribly broken. We need to throw the whole traditional [education] system out and start over from scratch." - Marcie from OKC, commenting about the ten day jail sentence a woman from Ohio received after being taken to court by the school district for sending her son to a school outside her district's school/zone.
There aren't many things for which I don't have an opinion. But especially in this day and time where "Social Networking" is all the craze, I try to watch what I say so as to not offend any of my family and friends. That being said, there are simply some things better left to my own musings.
Yes, I know the first amendment of U.S. Constitution avows my freedom to speak without censorship or limitations. Yet to think that "Freedom of Speech" is an absolute is somewhat of a misnomer. Many social institutions have erected "speech codes" on what can be said in order to protect the public. One such limitation is that of "Hate Speech."
Hate speech is that which is considered to be "obscene, defamatory, slanderous, or hateful, and holds a reasonable potential to be harmful" (Lederer & Delgado 1995). It is a form of verbal aggression that expresses hatred, contempt, ridicule or threats toward a specific group or class of people (Asante 1998). It includes but is not limited to verbalizations, written messages, symbols or symbolic acts that are meant to demean and degrade. Hate speech often stems from thoughts and beliefs such as hatred, intolerance, prejudice, bigotry, or stereotyping (Allport 1954). Based on these definitions alone, it is plain to see many of us violate our most basic constitutional right on a daily basis. And to render such comments as those used to start this piece as acceptable, is nothing short of blasphemy and places our country in a precarious situation.
Ironically enough, many of the people behind these diatribes are often the same ones that insist we send our students on their merry way for "winter break" and greet strangers on the street with a "Happy Holidays." In Fahrenheit 451, science fiction author Ray Bradbury predicted this future for our society because we didn't want to upset "...the cat lovers,...the dog lovers,...the Baptists,...the Texans," etc.... As a result, the toes many try to tip toe around are the same toes that kick the rest of us in the gut on a daily basis.
"Remove the hatred the Republicans generate?" Really? What's the latent message there? Not a "single public school worth lying to get into?" Seriously? I guess I bust my ass every single day for a totally worthless cause? And the biggest hypocrisy of it all? The ones most often doing the finger pointing (and I've noticed they usually do that pointing with their middle finger) are the very people the rest of us are trying not to offend.
I think Thumper from Disney's Bambi was right. "If you can't say something nice, then don't say nothin' at all."
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