I am growing very concerned with the way things are going in our society. No, I'm not talking about the environent, people who eat meat, or the "evil conservatives". I'm talking about the prevailing attitudes in our pagan society. I've been inundated lately with requests to join causes, sign petitions, etc. for the purposes of helping to push through legislation and silence opposition. Don't get me wrong, I agree that health care reform is needed, but not before giving it very CAREFUL consideration. This is incredibly sweeping change we're talking about, and to push it through blindly is utter folly. These people who are disupting the so-called town hall meetings are frightened and feeling disenfranchised. Sound familiar? Anyone remember trying to get our concerns addressed during the many debacles of the Bush administration? Perhaps we might show a little of the compassion, patience, and understanding we like to pride ourselves on and actually LISTEN to the concerns being voiced. I have to admit, I share some of those concerns. Now for something that troubles me very deeply indeed: The attempts being made to silence our arch-enemy Rush Limbaugh. The man is an unconsionable ass, agreed. He hates anything that doesn't fit neatly into his narrow-minded world view and every bit of rubbish that spews from his mouth is hateful and inflammatory. But it is his opinion and, unless he is committing true criminal libel or slander, he has the absolute and unimpeachable right to say and think whatever he pleases. To paraphrase Voltaire: I may disagree with (or despise, in this case) what he says, but I will defend TO THE DEATH his right to say it. Folks, the First Amendment isn't something that applies only to us. It belongs to everyone equally. This means that we all have the right to offend others with what we have to say, and to be offended in turn. The proper responce is not to silence dissenters, but to have a better argument than they do, and let the people decide for themselves. We must never allow this most precious of rights be hindered or shackled, especially for the sake of the truly insidious concept of "political correctness". That is the true enemy of free thought.
