by Lee Duigon
We are told, by (ahem!) “a poll” that almost half of our Millenials (ages 25-34) think “misgendering” ought to be a crime punishable by jail time.
The poll was conducted by Redfield & Wilson Strategies (never heard of ‘em) and, um, “reported” by Newsweek. We are also told that 19% of all Americans agree—and 65% don’t. And, lest we forget, some 250 celebrities say we really need government to censor “wrong” opinions.
Do we believe this? Not me, pal. I’m not into compelled speech. If some guy with a beard insists he’s Sonie Henie, why in the world should I have to, on pain of imprisonment, pretend that I, too, think he’s a woman? What kind of asinine excuse for a civilization is that?
Puzzled, we turn to Dr. Peabo Bunkum, professor of Nothing Studies at Fimbo University, to explain it for us.
“Free speech is quite simply a threat to democracy,” Professor Bunkum says. “And why is that? What’s wrong with free speech? It’s wrong because the wrong people use it! They use it to say wrong things! Some of them are so stupid, they don’t even know they’re wrong! Christians and conservatives, every word they speak, every word they write, is just plain wrong! You can’t have a democracy when three-quarters of the people have the wrong ideas.”
Public education, he continues, “has done a good job of weeding out wrongness, but you can’t expect the teachers’ unions and the colleges to do it on their own. Government has to step in! Those stupid evil peasants who insist on misgendering people—and hurting their feelings!—will never stop until we lock them up and throw away the key.”
As we speak, the Biden Administration is fighting tooth and nail in court to assert and protect their claim that government agencies and officials have every “right” and “authority” to lean on Internet providers and force them to censor anyone who disagrees with the prevailing narrative. (That’s a new word that replaces “lie.”) Sorry about all those quotation marks. We are dealing with babbling idiots for whom ordinary words like “truth” and “justice” and “freedom” take on weird and esoteric meanings.
Then again, how can 250 celebrities be wrong? And Millenials who’ve been to college and earned degrees in Gender Studies—who are you gonna believe? Them, or that dopey old Constitution that we really don’t need anymore?
“Free speech,” declares Dr. Bunkum, “should be reserved only to those persons whose opinions are proper and correct. And government officials, college professors, and teachers’ unions know which opinions are proper and correct! Together we should be able to decide who speaks and who doesn’t.”
Getting back to the poll, we cannot help but wonder whom they polled, and where. I’m guessing the faculty lounge at Che Guevara Community College. It would be distressing to believe our education establishment has succeeded so brilliantly in turning half a generation into a pack of Red Guards.
Don’t we want our free republic anymore? Are we so tired of our liberty? “Red for Ed,” the teachers’ union T-shirts say.
If we don’t have our First Amendment, guaranteeing free speech, freedom of religion, and freedom to demand of our government redress of grievances… well, then, we don’t have much of anything, do we?
It seems a high price to pay just to help intensely disturbed people act out their fantasies.
I have discussed these and other topics throughout the week on my blog, http://leeduigon.com/ . Click the link and stop in for a visit—before they start building new prisons for all of us who have wrong ideas. My articles can also be found at www.chalcedon.edu/
© 2023 Lee Duigon – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Lee Duigon: leeduigon@verizon.net
