Every person has a right to free speech, to assemble and to believe according to the dictates of their conscience. It is a right that has been given to every human being and belongs to everyone--whether a person is an angry woke leftist or a raging conservative.
Free speech and the fight for free speech has been a challenge since time immemorial. Opposing opinions can aggravate people; all the while, everyone also has an equal right to counter someone else's opinion. Free speech is a hallmark of a free society.
When we allow opinions to flow freely, emotions can be triggered and tempers start to flare. As a result, naturally, people want to limit the speech of their opponents. The irony of this is if you ask a raging liberal if they believe in free speech, they will say, "Yes, I certainly do." Then if you give this raging liberal a choice to limit the speech of their opponent, they will likely limit their speech. This is exactly what is happening in our society today.
It's not so easy to allow for freedom of opinions especially when they run counter to our own. As human beings, we don't want to let it go. We want to beat our opponents into submission.
We all have a dark side within. We are selfish and we want our own views, perspectives, and worldviews to dominate and win. We also want to gather around us those who agree with us. We want our views to be the dominant and winning view. We also want "our own people" to dominate the discussion in the public forum. No one wants to be the loser.
The problem, then, becomes bigger when our opinions becomes policy and law. When "our own" laws limit and impinge upon the rights and freedoms of others, emotions become inflamed. We protest in anger and are willing to do anything; and anything might include cheating, lying, stealing, fighting, and rioting. This is our political angst, and rage against free speech. We justify our cancellation of dissenting voices because of our angst and anger.
I lean more conservative in my worldview. I also consider myself liberal on some issues. I value freedom of expression, speech, thought and religion. These, I believe, are some bedrock values of a free society. Without these, society and culture will fall apart.
SOCIETY'S DISRUPTION
Allow me to use an example here. Look at how the 2018 presidential election and the 2020 primaries were manipulated by the left. Conservative media rallied together. Look at how the left covered up and denied everything--even when evidence of wrong-doing were presented by conservatives they ignored or hid the evidence. The courts and lawmakers denied everything. Democrats and Republicans attacked each other relentlessly. There is a culture war today and it's gotten worse.
Trust has broken down. When there is no longer trust within society, people will protest (examples: Antifa, BLM, January 6). People will rise up and not shut up. It's a natural consequence to disappointment. When there is corruption, or voices are shut up or ignored, protest will happen. When we commit crime, wrong-doings and sin against our fellow man, we create more problems. Sin breaks society's trust in governments, institutions, organizations, and corporations.
History has proven this over and over again. Centuries-past, there were the Roman and Macedonian empires, and Chinese dynasties. Yester-years, there were the British Empire and the Soviet Union. Today, there is the United States of America, and the next to fall might be the great American Republic.
It's a fact, the left today controls mainstream media and big tech and have used deception and the influence of globalist elites. Conservatives and the traditional human families are the victims. Conservatives are under-dogs. Conservatives have gained some ground on the Supreme Court because of President Donald Trump's judicial appointments. Elon Musk, through his buy-out and control of Twitter, has given a small voice back to conservatives. There is still a huge gap. America has a lot to lose if fairness and equality does not return in a massive way.
This widening gap between left and right has become even more complex. There is also the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor.
There are also the globalists versus local communitarians (if you will). Globalists exists on both the left and right. Local communitarians also exists on either end of the political spectrum. The destruction of this country will not be the undoing between the political left and right. We are merely the pawns. This undoing will be due to the destruction caused by the globalist elites; and they are wreaking havoc upon societies all over the world. It is happening before our very eyes but they will remain unseen. The blame for our downfall will be cast upon us, the common people, the politicos, governments, and business/corporations.
Examples of globalist puppets on the left and right are Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush (Sr. and Jr.). These are pro-globalist politicians support the elites who want to centralize the power of governments and corporations.
Examples of local communitarians on both left and right are: Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump--the antithesis of one another. Both politicians sought for a return to local ownership of work, responsibility, and liberties--though how they seek to achieve this are different. The globalists are triumphantly celebrating because they have gotten rid of both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. These two men are antithetical of each other, but they both have a common enemy--the globalists. Both men were unfairly demonized. Both were stood highest in the polls at one point in their respective political campaigns, then for some reason, they sank and were eventually eliminated during their respective political races--strangely. The mass media were told by the globalist elites to destroy them or completely ignore them.
THE CAUSE OF DISRUPTION: THE GLOBALISTS
But this is not the end. When the voice of the common people are strangely stopped without a just reason, it will anger people even further. This is why we have been seeing disruptions within societies.
There is much at stake today. The nation of the United States of America could come crashing down due to the corruption of governments, corporations and global elites who control them. Both are equally corrupted by human sin and error, untruthfulness and falsified facts. Call them what you may.
Today, this has become a serious problem. There is a big divide between the globalists and local communitarians. This will increasingly become a bigger issue than just liberalism and conservatism. Globalism will divide our society and nationhood and remove individuals from our natural right to self-determination, personal responsibility and liberties. Centralized corporations and governments will seek to control us in all aspects, in how we think, act, and feel about things.
We see this in our ability to raise our own children. I'm sure both liberals and conservatives equally love their spouse and children and want to raise good families. Their values might be different but neither want to lose their right to determine the direction they want to lead their families into.
I don't know if there is any hope of a return to real freedom in the press, mass media and big tech. I do hope both can seek to agree to disagree and respect that each have a right to their own opinions. Opinions on both sides are valid and legitimate because we each have our own real and lived experiences in life.
The left and right, liberals and conservatives, need to unite and know who are the people causing the disruptions within our society. Our two camps are being divided and conquered.
Who wins in the end? The globalists. If both liberals and conservatives who love this country and support local communities can unite to fight off the globalists, we can all win. Perhaps hope is not lost. Perhaps there is something we can all do to help to ward off the globalists offensive.
WHAT WE CAN DO TO HELP
Finally, a suggestion here to the left (and to the right) so that we bring a greater sense of peace into our world:
1. Understand that you have your own selfish ambitions. Understand that there are other contrary opinions that are equally legitimate and valid. This is difficult to do. When you understand your own weakness, you will be more self-aware of why you think the way you think.
2. Return to the basics of freedom of religion, of assembly and of speech. These were once a cradle of classical liberal values. All people are given this right the day they are born into this world. And yes, conservatives are also classical liberals in this same sense we understand freedom. In fact, conservatives are doing more to preserve freedom than the woke left who have taken over.
3. Listen to differing opinions. Widen your scope of exposure to other opinions. Don't shut down the discussion of others--but invite it and ask them why they hold their opinion. This began to change for me when I exposed myself to opinions in university. Listening to the opinions of others does not mean you cannot have an opinion of your own. You need to understand that you don't hold a monopoly on viewpoint. Many views are also legitimate.
4. Lastly, bear with others who are different from yourself. Help and assist those who are different and who might think differently from you. You might begin to learn to value what they value and understand where they are coming from. This began to change for me when I moved from a big city to live in a small rural community, and back and forth several times. I learned to accept the values of small community peoples and understood why they think the way they do because I also began to live like they did.
5. Don't be too quick to judge. Be respectful of the opinions of others. Again this is hard to do--almost impossible. But anything is possible with God's help. Conservatives are conservative for a reason. Liberals are liberal for a reason. We all have our own lived experiences. Personal and individual experiences are very real and determines our opinions.
I hope this helps to challenge some of you to be more self-aware of our own political angst and what aggravates us. Feel free to express your views in the comments here if you like.
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