Do you believe in the First Amendment of the US Constitution?
I notice a lot of people like to use the First Amendment as justification for their own words but give it very little weight when someone else is speaking, expressing, or conveying a differing point of view.
Children commit genocide upon pixels on the flatscreen and we celebrate drug addiction and murdering entire families through music, and it is activity that is protected by the First Amendment. We'll be damned if that same freedom gets extended to someone we disagree with.
I think most people take for granted why the First Amendment is the first amendment. It would be my guess that it is the case that no other freedoms can even be discussed without this very basic freedom and responsibility as the very foundation of the discussion.
Freedom For You & From You
Freedom is a responsibility if it is to be realized in equal measure. See, freedom for you means restrictions on others so that your freedom is respected, which means you must restrict yourself in a way that obeys the freedoms of others.
To me, the First Amendment is not simply an excuse to be vulgar and unyielding but commands the listener to obey this assignment of liberty if they wish to be granted equal liberty when they are the one speaking. This provides a framework of respect upon which tolerance and therefore freedom can be discussed and realized.
Testing...
I'm going to be testing if the First Amendment is alive and if others actually believe in it. Along the way, regardless of if you consider yourself a Republican or Democrat, I will challenge what you think about liberalism and what equality really is.
Both the left and right are showing signs of authoritarianism and the tendency toward tribalism and groupthink is terrifyingly trendy right now which makes it hard for us to think and speak freely. I feel the need to push back against that.