Monday, October 27, 2008

The Freedom of Speech Paradox

Well, it happened today between the hours of 2 PM and 5 PM. Broad daylight. The brazen opponents of Prop 8 strolled onto our front lawn and stole our "Yes on Prop 8" sign.

Hold on while I vomit from the sickness of violation. Okay, much better.

I continue to think of one of my favorite movie line quotes. It is from "The American President"

"America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the "land of the free". "

I am all for freedom of speech. Because I cannot have it if I refuse to provide it to others.

It is just odd that the very group clamoring for equality and protesting exclusivity of rights is the very group refusing to allow that same right to me.

And thus the paradox of "you cannot eliminate the right of a same sex couple to marry, but I can eliminate your right to oppose it." Satan is good...or is it bad. Let's just say very effective at leading people astray by the subtle craftiness of men.

6 comments:

courtneyb said...

I'm amazed at the stories I hear from friends all over in CA that have had the same experience.

Jessica said...

It makes me think of the PETA people who fight so hard for animal rights, but often times harm humans that wear fur or things. Let's protect animals, but who cares about people. Also the ELF people who are extreme environmentalists...they burned a house down here that was a new construction because it wasn't made of earth friendly products, and had cut down trees for materials. So, they are FOR the environment, yet they burned a house down to fight for that. Aren't the carcinogens from a fire harmful to the environment? We need to learn to stand up for what we believe in, WHILE respecting other people's right to do so as well, even if it is the exact opposite thing we believe in...like you said.

Anonymous said...

oh - i need to tell you about the teenagers that stole our yes on 8 sign a couple of days ago. the liberal bay area teachers around here are brainwashing these kids. we actually saw them stealing our sign -- caught them red handed, ran them down and called the police. the police came and gave them a good 'talkin to' but we were nice and didn't press charges.

Stacy said...

This is ridiculous. I can't believe people do stuff like that. I love the quote! Very good.

Wallis Family said...

Obviously, I am a little behind but Congrats on the new baby! She is beautiful and you look great too. I don't know how you do it all! You are amazing!

Shumster said...

Oh my!!!! I am so sick of all of this prop 8 stuff. I am looking forward to when this all calms down and I can go about my day without thinking about it every second. What little free time I get to take a brake is filled with thoughts that are not relaxing at all. I am sad about the attacks on the church from the NO on prop 8 side. People picketing out in front of the temples is just not cool. I have seen an add that shows our prophets Hinkle and Monson talking about equality and being none judgmental. They say that they are hypocrites. I hate to see our prophets talked about badly. There is also one about the LDS missionaries. They go into a same sax couples home and find there marriage licence and rip it up. Talking about how Mormons are trying to take over others rights. It makes me sick and so sad to have the church mentioned in a hateful way. Politics is so shady at times. Hope it all calms down soon. Remember to VOTE today :)