My Return to Personal Blogging
I decide to return to blogging for myself. I used to blog under my own name but for some reason gave it up. Now after several years I feel the urge again.
Oh I didn’t completely quit blogging for that time period as I was very busy with my baseball blog at CardinalsGM. I will continue with that and from time to time chime in at my son’s blog at SaintLouisSports with some stuff.
But simply I am getting bored just writing about sports. I love sports, don’t get me wrong. I just wanted a place to express my thoughts on others issues like politics, religion, and general news items that appear in the news. In fact, if you have an idea of a topic that is worthy of discussion, send it my way.
So here we go……
Does Political Correctness Trump Freedom of Speech?
Today, we are concerned about everyone’s feeling. Freedom of speech has been silenced for political correctness. Let’s look at some examples of PC.
Back in May of 2010, according to news accounts, five students wore American flag shorts to school and were told to remove them or turn them inside out. The students said no and were sent home. The school admitted that they didn’t violate any dress code rules but they were concerned that “others” could be offended. The shirts were not obscene and not no vulgar words or graphics. They didn’t have any depiction of violence or death. They were shirts in the image of the American flag.
In other words, the school was concerned that students from other countries would be offended in viewing those shirts. It was simply political correctness.
A similar case happened back in my day when some students wore black armbands in opposition to the Vietnam War. The Tinker Standard was born which created a standard of measuring if and when schools may restrict free speech.
According to the standard:
- “They must reasonably forecast, based on evidence and not on an ‘undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance,’ that the student expression would lead to either a substantial disruption of the school environment, or an invasion of the rights of others,”
One of my biggest gripes for PC has to do with individuals and stores that won’t utter the words Merry Christmas. People used to smile and give you a handshake along with Merry Christmas during the season. Now it is stated that people are offended if they are not of the Christian persuasion. They want Hannukah or they are an atheist. You are deemed rude, offensive and uncaring to be so cavalier to say “Merry Christmas” to people.
Look at the ads during the holiday season and many have no mention of Christmas. Places have barred the Nativity scenes from being put up where others who don’t believe may come into contact. Now companies and businesses are having “holiday” parties and not “Christmas parties for their employees.
Some points of importance must be addressed:
Look at youth sports, everyone must get a trophy to help with esteem issues. Let’s not keep score because we don’t want to call someone a loser. All things must be homogenous (culturally, ethnically and racially).
So what is wrong with that?
The American way has always, before the PC movement, been that if you work hard and fight for the things you want you can be successful and have a good frame of mind. But now, when things are just given to us (yes, this includes gov’t programs), they gain things they did not merit.
Most important, Americans need to remember that actions have consequences. And until we connect the dots and see the error of being so PC, those consequences can, and will, have devastating results.
At one point in the world, Rome was considered the greatest country/empire in the world. Every single Roman citizen was afforded their personal rights. The Roman Army would hunt down and person or group that violated the rights of any single Roman. They believed the well-being of Roman citizens was absolutely important. Then they abandoned those principles and the Roman Empire came crashing down.
Many will tell you that America is great. It is. But remember one item, they said Rome would never fall and it did.
Tomorrow’s Blog- Knowing the Right Thing to Do
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The opinions and statements made in this blog are those of Tom Knuppel.