This is a deep and interesting topic. I agree that there is speech that is hurtful and awful. But what sounds perfectly harmless to one group of people is deeply insulting to another. which group gets to decide what is okay and what is not okay to say?
As for Hitler - he had fertile ground. People were suffering from the repressions and hardship put on them after the lost WW I. People were starving, kids were hungry. So, when Hitler came along and promised to make Germany strong again (sounds familiar?), promised food on the table, a bright future for the kids - people were listening. Just ignoring the crazy part. "It can't get so bad..."
Like we are thinking it can't get so bad. But soon, abortions are for the rich only again and poor women are bleeding to death in back alleys.
And what about the speech of all the women speaking up right now being told to shut up. Being told that they are paid actors by white old men in power. They would make the rules ...
Anyway. I am preaching to the choir here.
As I was typing this out, I pressed delete. Instead of my cursor deleting words, it backspaced page and made me lose what I just typed. Son of a bleep!
I love your question and response. I will respond tomorrow with my thoughts on this matter. I need to save some time to write a freewrite. 8-)
This is a deep and interesting topic. I agree that there is speech that is hurtful and awful. But what sounds perfectly harmless to one group of people is deeply insulting to another. which group gets to decide what is okay and what is not okay to say?
As for Hitler - he had fertile ground. People were suffering from the repressions and hardship put on them after the lost WW I. People were starving, kids were hungry. So, when Hitler came along and promised to make Germany strong again (sounds familiar?), promised food on the table, a bright future for the kids - people were listening. Just ignoring the crazy part. "It can't get so bad..."
Like we are thinking it can't get so bad. But soon, abortions are for the rich only again and poor women are bleeding to death in back alleys.
And what about the speech of all the women speaking up right now being told to shut up. Being told that they are paid actors by white old men in power. They would make the rules ...
Anyway. I am preaching to the choir here.
As I was typing this out, I pressed delete. Instead of my cursor deleting words, it backspaced page and made me lose what I just typed. Son of a bleep!
I love your question and response. I will respond tomorrow with my thoughts on this matter. I need to save some time to write a freewrite. 8-)