How free are you?

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances" -The 1st Amendment of the Bill of Rights



For most people this amendment is known and followed and for some it is a way by which they live their lives. From civil rights movements, Roe v. Wade, KKK rallies all the way to your local city council and your child’s PTA meetings, this amendment is a part of every minute of every day in this country. Freedom of Speech, it's a noble concept. To not be prosecuted for the things you say or the ideals you preach to others, is a luxury that most of the 6 billion...ish people alive don't have. It is something that has turned 13 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed colonies into the most powerful nation on the planet and the largest democracy this world has ever seen.

Why then is it that the more people that I meet, the more groups I come in contact with, the more people who read this blog...the less and less free I feel I am to say whatever I want? In recent days I've had a few ideas of a posting for this site, but then I soon realized that person X or person Y reads this and I can't post that. Is it ironic or just fucked up that in the land of the free, on the information super highway, on my website, written on my computer, I can't type what I want? Now I don't have any real breaking news story or something that would put me in too bad of a place if I said it...but still. Now I am by no means claiming I’m famous (only about 100 people visit this site each time I post) but this must be what it feels like to be famous. The more you’re in the spotlight, the more influence you have, the more you are able to speak and possibly make a difference…the less you’re able to say. I feel like I have to be careful of what I say because I don’t know who reads this anymore, and I don’t want to offend anyone. Or actually I just want to avoid the drama (if it’s an opinion I have I really don’t care if I offend you) my life is fairly simple now and I just don’t want to complicate it with drama and having to defend myself anymore than I already do.

'Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me'...well at least until I'm an adult and I learn how to sue your ass for the things you said. That's how that childhood saying should really go. I'm pretty sure I don't have anything to say that would get me sued, but I have a lot to say that might piss off a person or two. Think of the groups of people that read this blog; my family, my best friends, people I've worked with in the past, people I currently work with, any of my "friends" on Facebook or MySpace, girls (ones I may like or have liked or maybe in the future would want to like). Now think of all the opinions you have about those same groups in your everyday life...go ahead I'll wait...now think what would happen if you started a blog and wrote COMPLETELY openly about anything and everything in your life. Chaos right? Yeah, total and incomprehensible chaos would ensue.

But my restrictions on what I can and can't say don't stop here on this site. In recent days, weeks and months, I've noticed that I can't say, text, or email things to people because of what might happen. If I'm so free to say what I want and "words will never hurt me" then why is it such a big deal if I drop an F bomb (see I'm even censoring myself) every now and again, or speak openly about something I feel? Or one of my favorite examples is the games we play when we're dating. For example well I called her last so she has to be the one to call me now...WTF?! If you want to talk to someone call them. If they don't like it or you didn't play the game the right way, guess what? It's probably not going to work anyway. Or how bout being censored by things that you MUST say. What would happen tomorrow if President Obama didn't end one of his speeches with "God bless you, and God bless America"? What if he just said "Thank you"? The media would come unglued talking about how he is a terrorist or that he doesn't have family values.

**Side note** What happened to the separation of church and state?

I don't know if this blog was spurred on by my actual frustration with censorship or the fact that I may just have a mild case of writers block. But tomorrow when you go to work or in your everyday dealings with people, take a second to think what if you just said what you thought. Yeah scary right? So how free are you? Yes you CAN say anything you want, but WILL you say anything you want...probably not. I sometimes wonder if it would be better in the end if we all just said everything without that mental filter. Sure it might send the planet spinning off on some crazy axis, but after we got all our minds cleared of the cluttered of lies and deceit...wouldn't it just be easier?

But until then, watch what you say.

p.s. I completely understand that I was able to post this blog about a topic that in some peoples mind may question things our government does or has done. For my ability to do that (freedom of speech) I am very thankful.