One of the fundamental tenets of freedom is the ability to engage in generally unfettered dialogue. The free exchange of ideas, as different as they may be, is the thread that connects us all in our joint pursuit of liberty. With limited restrictions, we in this country enjoy the freedom of speech. As much as thoughts and ideas expressed by others might be completely counter to our own, our Freedom Demands Discourse! Anything less threatens to subjugate us to tyrannical ideologies that seek to control not only our words but our lives as well.
Whenever I hear phrases like, “They should just shut up” or “Go along or quit” or “Get with the program and stop whining” a part of me cringes. What makes an idea or statement that fails to agree with mine, inferior? What makes my idea or statement any better than the one I wish to quiet? Often the one who yells the loudest and cries “foul” the most is the one whose ideas may be the most fragile. It seems that when one demands that all other voices cease, he/she speaks from a platform of fear and insecurity. If one with the loudest voice or highest position can somehow quiet all dissenters then that one gets his/her way. Is this really the way our country operates? Must we vilify, demean and minimize those whose opinion differs from our own?
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, ‘Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.” Do we truly believe that if someone disagrees with us that we are somehow attacked? Must everyone agree with our thoughts, ideas or words or become marginalized if they do not? Freedom and democracy demand discourse! To believe that one person or one group or one idea somehow serves as the one great unifier . . . as long as all others keep quiet . . . defies logic! We run the risk of succumbing to the ravages of a contagious paranoia.
Freedom Demands Discourse! Only when all sides decide to discard partisan posturing and engage in logical, reasonable, purposeful debate will we finally begin to address our problems as United States.
Peace!
Mark E. Hundley
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