STICKS AND STONES

One of the earliest sayings my mother taught me, along with The Golden Rule and also something about glass houses was “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Even at an early age, I knew to continue that phrase with, “unless I let them”.

The world of liberal, political correctness began a slippery slope of rules by edict which included letting words become a harmful thing that must be stopped (if they do not adhere to “our” way of thinking). PC police have been around long enough now that whole generations of Americans have never adhered to the notion that there is an inalienable right to free speech. Yes, they know it’s in the Constitution but apparently the Constitution is wrong when people say things that piss off the progressive base or anyone that simply does not like what he/she said.

It all seems to be coming home to roost this past week with the “words” conveyed by the patriarch of the “Duck Dynasty” family. Plenty has already been said by hundreds of talking heads on every news organization on TV. I’m not going there. I’ll simply say he was naive to say those things in today’s PC world and he certainly does not interpret The Bible the same way I do. And, A & E can do whatever their contract gives them the right to do.  I don’t watch the show, not for any particular reason except I am not a fan of reality TV.

But . . . the root problem in the controversy is not what was contained in his sentences, it’s in another sentence that we have heard all week. And it usually starts with these words, “He should not be allowed. . .” or the other strange statement “He does not have the right . . .”.  Ironically, I heard a Fox News analyst last night say the following, “The Constitution protects the right of free speech, they just should not be allowed to hurt other’s feelings in the process”. What?? Who is THEY?  The government? Is he saying that we need a constitutional amendment to add a codicil to the First Amendment saying American’s do not have the right to hurt someone else’s feelings?

The simple fact is the First Amendment was not written to protect Americans when they say things other Americans like to hear. It was written to protect all Americans from illegal reprisals when another American says something they DO NOT like to hear. Another way of putting it is that the government does not have “the right” to make laws governing whether or not what you say is illegal.

Amazingly, in today’s America, we have even gone past that and made it illegal to even think things that may be hurtful to others. “Thought policing” is everywhere and a very dangerous slope in itself. But I better not go there now and wrap this up.

I only hope that we American’s begin to come to our senses soon before the old saying is changed to something like “I’ll break your bones with sticks and stones if your words begin to hurt me”.