Freeish Speech
Let me start out by saying that Kathy Griffin went too far.
I had thought that Stephen Colbert had done so with his opening monologue rant a few weeks ago. But Kathy Griffin left him in the dust.
If you haven't seen the picture of her holding the (fake) decapitated head of President Trump, then you haven't been online in the last few days. It isn't pretty.
And it goes too far. Why? Well, imagine if someone had done the same thing with President Obama. How would people have reacted? Charges of racism, hate speech, and so on. It may not be racist with regard to Trump, but it is hate and it is staggeringly reminiscent of the horrors ISIS has posted as well - their atrocities being far more real than that of Griffin.
Sure it was some kind of publicity stunt, but if it was considered a "good idea" or a "really funny" idea, then it goes to show that we as a nation have truly taken leave of our senses.
I am all for free speech. I am not trying to censor Griffin. Sometimes it takes some jarring language or act to get people to think about society in a compelling way. George Carlin certainly did that. Other times, the act just points out that the actor doesn't just cross the line, but doesn't seem to know where or why there are some lines.
But her action does point to the fact that if this was what we see from the fringe Left, then we have to recognize that the fringe Left and Right have pushed us further and further away from each other. With the hateful rhetoric of the 2016 campaign and the apparent self-justification of people like Jeremy Christian who was arrested for stabbing people in Portland after a racist rant, we see that the playing field for the hearts and minds of Americans has gotten heated, violent, and disgusting in its language and division.
Yet we can't be afraid to talk. Shaming people for having differing opinions is becoming too common; disrespecting people for being different is, ironically, both unpopular as well as justification for disrespecting others (as in, "they weren't treating that person right, so we mocked the insensitive jerks until they left."). Hate seems to have taken hold, and sometimes we have to speak angrily about that. Sadly, we don't seem to remember how to do that effectively or in a manner that is becoming of the right to speak openly and freely.
Because the right to free speech is a right. Being unpleasant about it is more of a choice. Then again, that may sound judgmental and confining. As a friend of mine once said, politically correct speech is a tool of the Devil. What he meant was that it can so quickly trap us by preventing us from actually being able to speak. We have to learn to speak clearly, effectively, and passionately. We have to learn how to debate without debasing. We have to learn how to be passionate without being an extremist.
That's a lot to ask when we don't see it modeled very often from those persons whom we have elected to represent us as a nation. How will we learn to come to the table?
I don't know. But it doesn't start with a picture of a fake severed head.
I had thought that Stephen Colbert had done so with his opening monologue rant a few weeks ago. But Kathy Griffin left him in the dust.
If you haven't seen the picture of her holding the (fake) decapitated head of President Trump, then you haven't been online in the last few days. It isn't pretty.
And it goes too far. Why? Well, imagine if someone had done the same thing with President Obama. How would people have reacted? Charges of racism, hate speech, and so on. It may not be racist with regard to Trump, but it is hate and it is staggeringly reminiscent of the horrors ISIS has posted as well - their atrocities being far more real than that of Griffin.
Sure it was some kind of publicity stunt, but if it was considered a "good idea" or a "really funny" idea, then it goes to show that we as a nation have truly taken leave of our senses.
I am all for free speech. I am not trying to censor Griffin. Sometimes it takes some jarring language or act to get people to think about society in a compelling way. George Carlin certainly did that. Other times, the act just points out that the actor doesn't just cross the line, but doesn't seem to know where or why there are some lines.
But her action does point to the fact that if this was what we see from the fringe Left, then we have to recognize that the fringe Left and Right have pushed us further and further away from each other. With the hateful rhetoric of the 2016 campaign and the apparent self-justification of people like Jeremy Christian who was arrested for stabbing people in Portland after a racist rant, we see that the playing field for the hearts and minds of Americans has gotten heated, violent, and disgusting in its language and division.
Yet we can't be afraid to talk. Shaming people for having differing opinions is becoming too common; disrespecting people for being different is, ironically, both unpopular as well as justification for disrespecting others (as in, "they weren't treating that person right, so we mocked the insensitive jerks until they left."). Hate seems to have taken hold, and sometimes we have to speak angrily about that. Sadly, we don't seem to remember how to do that effectively or in a manner that is becoming of the right to speak openly and freely.
Because the right to free speech is a right. Being unpleasant about it is more of a choice. Then again, that may sound judgmental and confining. As a friend of mine once said, politically correct speech is a tool of the Devil. What he meant was that it can so quickly trap us by preventing us from actually being able to speak. We have to learn to speak clearly, effectively, and passionately. We have to learn how to debate without debasing. We have to learn how to be passionate without being an extremist.
That's a lot to ask when we don't see it modeled very often from those persons whom we have elected to represent us as a nation. How will we learn to come to the table?
I don't know. But it doesn't start with a picture of a fake severed head.
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