Sticks and Stones

Your parents probably recited this saying to you when you were a kid. The saying goes, "Sticks and

stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me." Nowadays the saying seems to hold little to no meaning at all. If someone is called a name or made fun of everyone now rushes to their side in the name of social justice. People need to grow a thicker skin. Free speech cannot be silenced on the grounds of social injustice. In the end, who decides what is truly just. I don't say these things as someone who has never experienced mockery or name calling.

I was homeschooled k-12. As you can imagine there are many names and stereotypes that are attributed to homeschoolers. My family and I went through years of being made fun of for having a weird family, weird lifestyle, and so on.

Having my lifestyle mocked the majority of my life puts me in a unique position. What other's say shouldn't have any affect on you as a person. Words are just that, they are words. They don't hurt unless you let them hurt you. A key part of free speech is allowing others to speak their mind. Even if it hurts someone's feelings. When people made fun of me, it at first hurt my feelings. However, I soon discovered that it didn't really matter to me what others thought. This revelation probably came about as my mom recited the short poem, "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me." I realized that the things that people were making fun of me for, weren't even true. The stereotypes didn't really hold true to me, and I was happy with my life. This is when it really sunk in. When I realized that what they were saying wasn't true, I had no need to fight back. There was nothing that I needed to silence.

Lately, there have been a number of conservative speakers going on college tours. When these
conservative speakers speak somewhere it is
almost always an event put on by the republican, or conservative group at the college. Those groups pay for the event. At almost all of these events, there are protestors. At a recent event at DePaul University, there were protesters who shut down the event. This was after the Republican group paid an extra $2000 to the university for security. This extra fee came with the promise that if anyone interrupted the event, they would be removed immediately.  The picture is a clip from the Huffington Post article. The article explains how the protesters were actually treated. The on campus security did absolutely nothing. Even after the speaker was hit by one protester, and threatened by another, nothing was done.

It doesn't matter if you are on the left or the right. If you do not see this type of behavior as dangerous, then you are part of the problem. Allowing silencing of free speech in this way is dangerous to a free society. The reason for the protests was stated by the people protesting. They stated that it was because Milo the speaker was hateful and needed to be silenced. It may be true that Milo is hateful, but is that reason for him to be silenced while he is speaking at a private event? People cannot allow their feelings to fuel themselves.

The left so often wants to call the free speech card. It seems though that the card they so often play is that of silencing the free speech of others. Free speech isn't about silencing others, it is about having the ability to write, broadcast, and speak your opinions, whether they are hateful or good.