Whether right or wrong if we don't have the ability to express ourselves we are not living as free human beings. Now of course there are some restrictions on expression that deal with harm, but our individual right to express how we feel outside of explicitly harming someone is to be cherished. We do not advance as a society if we disallow different points of view. Take our current presidential election. In the one hand we have a political party, republicans, who are trying to deny rights that in anyway interfere with their agenda to control society. We need to see this so that we can decide if we want them controlling us. If we didn't know it was their purpose we would not know how to react to it.
I trust the maturity of our society to distinguish between regression and progression. It may not be pretty but in the final analysis we do get to decide if that expression has value. Just like with we democrats who want to promote health and welfare for all of our citizens and the freedom to express that at the ballot box. We don't restrict our citizens from voting because they may vote against our political ideals, we leave it up to them to decide if our ideas are worthy of their consideration and ultimately, their approval. Now I didn't start this particular blog post to talk about the freedom to vote, I started it to talk about freedom of expression.
What concerns me this morning is the hype surrounding a football player choosing to sit and then take a knee during our national anthem. Well to me that anthem exemplifies democracy and the courage it takes to protect that democracy. Choice is at the heart of our formation and continuation as a nation. His response to not stand is his expression of disagreement with how our society is operating in a particularly serious and devastating way. He choose to take a stand by not standing and to me that is honoring the intent of what freedom of expression is all about. There was no harm done to anyone other than their ego's being bruised. So be it and welcome to freedom.
I trust the maturity of our society to distinguish between regression and progression. It may not be pretty but in the final analysis we do get to decide if that expression has value. Just like with we democrats who want to promote health and welfare for all of our citizens and the freedom to express that at the ballot box. We don't restrict our citizens from voting because they may vote against our political ideals, we leave it up to them to decide if our ideas are worthy of their consideration and ultimately, their approval. Now I didn't start this particular blog post to talk about the freedom to vote, I started it to talk about freedom of expression.
What concerns me this morning is the hype surrounding a football player choosing to sit and then take a knee during our national anthem. Well to me that anthem exemplifies democracy and the courage it takes to protect that democracy. Choice is at the heart of our formation and continuation as a nation. His response to not stand is his expression of disagreement with how our society is operating in a particularly serious and devastating way. He choose to take a stand by not standing and to me that is honoring the intent of what freedom of expression is all about. There was no harm done to anyone other than their ego's being bruised. So be it and welcome to freedom.
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