[Vision2020] Freedom of expression

[Joe Campbell]

I agree with most of this, Paul, so I'm just going to comment on the
stuff I don't agree with or don't understand.

> According to my views on freedom of expression, political correctness is
> a disease that should be purged from the  world.  Instead of helping, it
> just sweeps the problem under the rug.  If a person hates blacks because
> of an incident when they were younger, or because they just don't like
> people who are "different", then they should be free to express that
> opinion.  Others will likely disagree, and a dialogue will probably
> ensue, but this is healthy.  This tendency by people to shun these sorts
> of debates is unhealthy for society (in my opinion, anyway).

I don't favor political correctness. I'm trying to have a dialogue on
the issue. That's why I'm posting on this forum.

> So what does this mean to us?  It means that if something offends you,
> you should suck it up and learn to live with it.  Grow some thicker skin
> and see if you can find a sense of humor on sale somewhere.  Freedom of
> expression, if that's a concept you agree with, has to trump "freedom
> from being offended".  The minute you allow the idea that some things
> are just too horrible to be read or viewed, then you've just thrown the
> concept of freedom of expression out the window.  Now you'll have a
> slippery slope where the definition of "too horrible" tends to match the
> ideals of the people who are in power at any given moment.

What happened to the bit noted above? Isn't there a difference between
political correctness, which is the attempted suppression of certain
kinds of speech, and criticism? Or do you think it is OK for you to
criticize the critics of NSA but it is NOT OK for the critics to
criticize NSA? I'm just noting that there is a rather large and
influential group of people in town who (a) offend those with whom
they disagree on a regular basis, and (b) are not really interested in
engaging in a dialogue about the matter.

> The odd irony for people who really believe in freedom of expression is
> that they most often end up defending things that they might vehemently
> disagree with.  They defend the speech of people they simply don't like
> or don't agree with, and they defend speech they are personally offended
> by because the speech that everyone agrees with is not threatened.

How is criticism of NSA going to threaten their free speech? I've been
criticizing NSA and Christ Church for almost a decade now. Doesn't
appear that their speech has been curtailed.

> Very little offends me, but even if I was offended by the NSA website,
> which I wasn't, then I would still be fighting for their right to be as
> inane with their metaphors as they wish.  I applaud them, really, for
> not rushing to change the page in an orgy of political correctness.

Who is not fighting for the right of free speech, NSA's or anyone
else's? Does your criticism of Ted deprive him of his freedom of
speech? No. It is merely an instance of the kind of dialogue that you
note above as being a social good, the kind of dialogue that is
threatened by political correctness. You are making a confusion
between CRITICISM, which you are able to dish out as well as anyone,
and political correctness.

And you're not even reading the criticism of which you are commenting.
My letter for instance noted the irony of NSA's ad campaign, one which
purports to "train" young Christians to battle against the secularists
when they are in fact utterly incapable of defending themselves on the
issue. The ad is deceptive in at least this sense, so letting the poor
suckers who might apply there know that seems like a good thing.

Also, that a local organization can display such a contempt for those
with whom they disagree is important to note. Again, maybe it doesn't
bother you but they just had a series of talks about Islamaphobia, so
it is worth noting that their hate speech DOES bother other folks,
those who live in this town yet don't happen to be lucky enough to be
straight, white, Christian men like yourself. The question isn't
really whether the speech offends you or any particular person but
whether it is OFFENSIVE. If you think not, I'd like to know why.
Again, I'm just trying to get a dialogue going on the issue.

I have more to say but this is good for now.