July 12, 2013 6:15 AM

The right to free speech, free expression, and freely vilify and demonize those you disagree with

Ordinarily, I’d thank you for writing. But truth is, I am not grateful you wrote; your note last week was one of the more troubling things I have read. I do not blame you for leaving it unsigned…. “We stand together,” I had written. “We stand defiant. And we stand with Boston.”…. You disagreed…. “Your wrong pal we do not STAND TOGETHER. OH MY GOD we need a CIVIL WAR. The American people against the LIBERAL DEMACRAT SCUM that we have let allow SCUMBAGS like those that would BLOW UP people in BROAD DAYLIGHT to be here….WE NEED A CIVIL WAR. Those demacrats that happen to still be breathing after that CIVIL WAR will have a choice. BECOME NORMAL or you are LEAVING with the 11 million illegals that ARE GOING HOME…THIS IS SO CLOSE TO HAPPENING THAT EVERY LIBERAL IN THIS COUNTRY SHOULD START LOSING SLEEP…THERE IS A CLEAR REASON WHY WE ARE ARMED TO THE TEETH….”

It’s been said that dissent is the hallmark of a healthy democracy. The right to disagree and voice dissenting opinions is the very definition of our 1st Amendment rights. The freedom of speech and expression ranks high on the list of things we (rightly or wrongly) take for granted. Of course, merely having the right to express yourself doesn’t ipso facto mean that you have anything of value to say. It doesn’t mean that anyone will pay attention to you. In some cases, ignoring what someone has to say is justifiable for any number of reasons. Sometimes it’s just so much noise and barely worth the brain cells it takes to string the words together.

Then you have the people who feel they possess the absolute right to use their own twisted standards to judge a person and find them wanting and thus worthy only of scorn and derision. If someone expresses an opinion that doesn’t fit with your agenda- whatever it may be- you might feel absolutely justified in visiting all manner of verbal abuse upon someone, regardless of how hateful and ugly it might sound to others. I see it in the comments here from time to time- someone who feels for whatever reason, usually barely lucid, that they need to let me know how stupid, ill-informed, and/or unworthy I am. In most cases, I’ll let the comment stand, because I think it says more about the commenter than it ever could about me. Better to be suspected of being a hateful ignoramus whose only argument consists of smug arrogance and name-calling than to leave a comment and remove all doubt, eh?

A nation is more than common geography. It is also common values, a common way of looking at the world — not that everyone agrees on everything always, but that we are at least tethered by similar understanding of who we are and what that means.

It is that test this country fails now with regularity. We can’t even agree on who we are anymore, so swamped are we by the rage red holds for blue.

In the wider world, these things can be truly ugly. On the one hand, it serves to demonstrate the epic ignorance and hatefulness of a person who lacks an argument while possessing a surplus of bile and vitriol. On the other, it speaks to a culture that’s become so polarized that reasonable, peaceful discourse is viewed as demonstrating a lack of conviction and commitment to your ideas/ideology. Compromise has become a dirty word, and the indication of a willingness to compromise is defined as the apotheosis of treason and lack of moral fitness.

I find it difficult not to fear for our future when the norm for political discourse has become screaming. Who could possibly be listening when everyone is shouting? I firmly believe, and there’s ample evidence to support this, that the Right is primarily responsible for the mess we’re in. That doesn’t excuse the Left for our acquiescence and refusal to stand up to the bullies and those who would willingly burn America down in order to “win.”

As much as it pains me to admit it, I understand the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, the location of that middle depends on your ideology. These days, it seems to be moving inexorably to the right.

For our future and the sake of future generations, I sincerely hope we can find that middle ground and begin to stake out a future that will work for all of us. Based on what I see and hear around me, though, optimism can be hard to come by.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on July 12, 2013 6:15 AM.

Who needs an OB-GYN when we have Conservative White men? was the previous entry in this blog.

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