Free

by Garrett Anderson

Created on: October 31, 2009

The insanity of the human mind tries to control the exterior world by regulating it. That is always our reaction. We see something, judge it as good or bad, and acquire a belief system. Then in furtherance of promoting that belief system and gaining support- we persuade, argue, fight, and litigate the issue as we try to impose our belief systems on the eventual losers and "win." All of that energy turns negative and hostile and if the issue causes us enough fear, we might be willing to kill you or die trying to prove ourselves correct.. In fact, free speech was one of the issues that we human beings were willing to die for. There is a better solution. It has always been available.

I don't know of anyone that fought to the death trying to promote pornography. But, I do know people who fought to the death to obtain liberty, freedom, and thus free speech. If you are not willing to die for pornography but you are indeed willing to die for free speech; then it stands to reason that free speech must be more important.

The world is filled with things that we find dis-tasteful or things that we intuitively know are wrong. In that sense, we judge the issue at hand and determine if that issue is something we want to engage in or not. We make that decision for ourselves, perhaps our children.

But rather than try to impose those beliefs on others beyond our inner circle, we find acceptance. Acceptance is always a better solution.

When we uncover a societal dilemma, whether it is pornography, racism, or illicit drug use, we accept that it is true and that it exists. We are not condoning nor condemning the issue. We are simply admitting that we are powerless individually to control or regulate it's existence in our exterior world. Acceptance requires us to acknowledge that the issue at hand is a problem or a potential problem and that in all likelihood it will never go away. It is human. We instruct, teach, evaluate, and communicate our beliefs within the family setting. We form consensus within ourselves and our loved ones. But we must never be willing to compromise free speech in order to achieve our individual beliefs. That is Pandora's Box. Once we open that box and sacrifice free speech on any emotionally charged issue to achieve our goals, then we will lose our right to free speech entirely. If we become willing to set aside free speech for the sake of outlawing pornography-then others will be willing to sacrifice free speech for other controversial issues. Soon there will be hundreds of issues wherein free speech will be sacrificed. Then one day, we will wake up and no longer have free speech. It will be regulated out of existence. Rendered useless. We will not be free to speak.

In fact, our inability to exercise free speech in England was how we landed here. There is a reason why our military knocks out communication systems first when attacking an enemy. Free speech is our nations internal communication system. It gives us the means to discuss, evaluate, and build consensus. To live our lives and decide collectively what is best for us. That is freedom.

Free speech is a sacred belief and a good one. There are thousands of little white crosses in places like Arlington National Cemetery where people were willing to die so that we could engage in free speech. We must always remember that free speech is a far more valued and prized possession than any subordinate issue like pornography. Whether its on the Internet or not. Pornography is here. Accept that it doesn't really matter whether pornography is protected speech or not. Teach your children core values, teach them the greater value of free speech, and be grateful that you can.

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