WhatFinger


Free Speech and the pursuit of Political Correctness

Swinging Like Monkeys from the Branches of the Liberty Tree



Recently, in a Chicago suburb, a village trustee was issued a citation for disorderly conduct when she informed two less than discerning parents that the trees of the village were to be respected as elements of nature, not utilized like playground equipment. The citation was issued after the parents mistook verbiage used as that of being racist. It should be disturbing to all of us that a citation was issued because of words used in a non-aggressive fashion. Even more disturbing is that our society is willing to disregard free speech rights in pursuit of political correctness.

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On seeing two children climbing in a less than mature magnolia tree – and upon witnessing the damage they were causing to the tree – Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, the village trustee in question, asked the parents, who were supervising the children, to remove them from the tree. She cited safety concerns and the fact that they were damaging the tree. This resulted in the parents effectively telling Ms. Ramirez-Sliwinski to trumpet her opinion out of her rectum. It was at this point that the “offensive verbiage” was uttered. Upon the parents’ suggestion that Ramirez-Sliwinski explore the possibility of turning her opinion into a suppository, Ramirez-Sliwinski said, “...the tree is not there for them to be climbing in like monkeys." Normally, a clear thinking person wouldn’t find anything wrong with that statement as monkeys do climb about in trees. Further, the fact that they call a particular playground apparatus the “monkey bars” should be precedent enough that referring to wiry, energy-filled children as “little monkeys” or simply “monkeys” is not a derogatory statement. The problem here – as if you hadn’t guessed it already – is that the children and the offended parents were Black; American-African. Now perhaps Ms. Ramirez-Sliwinski could have used different nomenclature but it is obvious to the thinking man that Ms. Ramirez-Sliwinski meant nothing racial by the remark. Maybe it was a poor choice of words given the intellectually stunted times we live in but how did “insensitive speech” become a criminal offense...in the United States of America?! Someone is going to have to point out to me where in the US Constitution we are all guaranteed the right not to be offended! Ironically, Ms. Ramirez-Sliwinski is a delegate to the Democrat National Convention. That should inoculate any Progressive-Leftists who would have otherwise characterized her as a Right-Wing thug trying to diminish the self-esteem of two black future Olympic gymnasts. The issue of hate-speech legislation – and hate crime laws in general – is one that needs to be urgently addressed. Moving away from the sanctity of the First Amendment guaranteed right to free speech is a step toward ushering in the fears Orwell outlined in his classic 1984. Allowing cultural elitists to usurp the Charters of Freedom in order to install a shadow set of laws (read: political correctness) is a giant step toward the demise of our liberties; toward the demise of our freedoms as mandated by Natural Law. Sadly, we are already started down that path. Before we acquiesce to the will of the counter-culture of the 1960s we should ask ourselves; should hate crimes and hate-speech laws come to fruition, who will be the arbiters of what is considered hate-speech, of what is considered hate-crime? The answer is, unquestionably, the same elitist, counter-cultural, hypocritical malcontents that have judged most every action of the US since the 1960s as “insensitive” and “intolerant”; The Me Generation. The Me Generation is truly living up to its name. They are self-serving and narcissistic. They only care about issues when those issues affect them directly. A few examples... More...


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Frank Salvato -- Bio and Archives

Frank Salvato also serves as the managing editor for The New Media Journal. His writing has been recognized by the US House International Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention.


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