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You Are Not Unsafe if You Hear or Read an Opinion That Upsets You
Do you want to be free or fragile?
“Man In Critical Condition After Hearing Slightly Differing Viewpoint.” So read the headline of a news article I read several years ago. Fortunately, it was satire.
This particular satire article was courtesy of The Babylon Bee, a controversial conservative “news” satire site. And with this particular piece, the folks at The Bee were poking fun at the all-too-common tendency of people to overreact to points of view different from their own.
So that there is no misunderstanding: I am not always in agreement with The Babylon Bee. Nevertheless, the problem being parodied in The Bee’s April 2019 article has only gotten worse in the years since. People today are more easily triggered or offended than perhaps ever before.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe we should be kind to one another. Likewise, I deplore bigotry or hate. I believe we should extend kindness and compassion to everyone.
But I also believe in the freedom of speech, and that includes the right of people to be unkind — even offensive. And unless we extend this freedom — legally and socially — we will not have genuine democracy.
