The Future Free Thinkers of American

I often feel that in order to write a blog post, I have to have something I feel passionately about in order to spill it all out in black and white. Usually these topics include religion and politics.

So, today I thought I'd discuss something a little bit different. Freedoms.

I had an incident occur recently with a few friends of mine. They exercised their freedom of speech and posted something on Facebook that was beyond contrary to popular belief. I didn't agree with their view points at all. I thought it was cold and callus and over-all unfeeling. And I told them as much when we discussed it shortly after the status update.

And then the comments started rolling in.

Allow me to just say this: These two gentlemen, in no way, shape, or form, insulted or hurt anyone with the words they chose.

Among the myriad of comments, were things such as "GTFO of facebook" and "who the hell do you think you are" as well as "STFU" and "You need to not spew your opinion on blah-blah-blah-subject".

When my friends responded to said comments, respectfully, as it were, they were again reamed up one side and down the other for their opinions.

Now, while I don't necessarily agree with them, I have a small problem.

Under the First Amendment, my friends had every right to state their opinion. And every right to be respected for it. As does everyone else.

But here's the issue: These people on Facebook were so caught up in the emotion of the moment, that they failed to recognize that my friends had these rights, and instantly jumped to offense and the desire to see them string up from the nearest tree for their opinion. And in no way did they say so respectfully.

Which got me thinking. In today's society, we are so caught up with being politically correct and not offending anyone, that we forget about our own rights. Not even as Americans. But as Human Beings endowed by our Creator. It doesn't matter if you agree or not. The mere fact that you disagree and can say so is a freedom and a right protected under our Constitution.

But suddenly, it has become unpopular to go against the masses of people. Why is that? When did political correctness replace freedom of speech? When did the desire to please every ethnicity and religion replace the free thinkers of our generation?

The whole incident really has me wondering what kind of world we live in, where you are not allowed to speak your mind if it goes against the majority. It was the still, small voices of this world that created and caused revolutions in Science and Mathematics and Politics and even ways of life and belief systems. Are we so busy pleasing everyone and being politically correct that we are stifling the next generation of greatness and change?

Later, as I discussed with my friends what exactly had happened online, they both just shrugged their shoulders and laughed it off. But I was so proud of them for standing up for what they thought, and not backing down and going with the masses. Even though I didn't necessarily agree with them, it didn't mean that I had to change their minds.

And as long as people like these two gentlemen exist, who don't back down and stand their ground on their opinions and beliefs, there will be hope for the future free thinkers and generations.