Alexandra Bogdanovic's Blog: That's life... - Posts Tagged "freedom-of-speech"
So much for that
Did you miss me? Did you even realize I didn't post anything last week? Did you care?
For the first time since I started this blog five months ago, I decided not to write anything. I didn't want to write a word and frankly I didn't care about the repercussions. My decision partially stemmed from the fact that I'd run out of creative energy -- but mostly from the fact that I was really, really, really angry.
Fresh from a one-week stay in Serbia -- a country where the government frowned upon freedom of speech for years, I returned to the good 'ole U.S. of A to find our duly elected representatives embroiled in the petty bickering, mudslinging, muck raking and gridlock that ultimately resulted in the partial government shutdown the remains in effect.
I vented my own frustration about the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare in a poem. In it, I took a few pokes at the Left and a jab at the Right for good measure.
I sent it off to a few newspapers, hoping they'd run it as a letter to the editor. To date, no one has done so. The editors of one website said they liked it. It was funny -- and right on target, they said. But they didn't want to run it. It was too controversial they said. It might offend people... It was too risky.
Whatever happened to freedom of speech? I thought. This is the United States of America. It's not Serbia. It's not China, or North Korea, or Iraq or Iran or Afghanistan... I'm not screaming fire in a crowded theater. I'm exercising my Constitutional right to self-expression.
As Americans and more importantly, as writers, we cannot take our freedom and our Constitutional rights for granted. We shouldn't be so afraid of offending someone that we censor ourselves, or worse let the government censor us.
Vladimir Putin recently said that Americans aren't really free -- that it's all an illusion. Of course we reacted angrily. But if we take a good, hard look in the mirror and are brutally honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that he's got a point.
That being stated, here's my take on Obamacare....
--------------------------------------
Although it's neither here nor there,
I do not want Obamacare.
So I won't enroll a few weeks from now,
I can't afford it anyhow.
I suppose I'll just pay the fines in my taxes.
I'm sick of politicians grinding axes.
I know our healthcare system's broken,
But Obamacare is a foolish notion.
Alas, there's no way to defund it.
Just ask any White House pundit!
Senator Cruz -- he's so full of bluster.
But please God, no more filibusters!
They'll never heed the people's voice,
In Obamacare we have no choice.
Now I rest my case, so simply stated.
Obamacare is over rated!
Until next time, "That's life..."
For the first time since I started this blog five months ago, I decided not to write anything. I didn't want to write a word and frankly I didn't care about the repercussions. My decision partially stemmed from the fact that I'd run out of creative energy -- but mostly from the fact that I was really, really, really angry.
Fresh from a one-week stay in Serbia -- a country where the government frowned upon freedom of speech for years, I returned to the good 'ole U.S. of A to find our duly elected representatives embroiled in the petty bickering, mudslinging, muck raking and gridlock that ultimately resulted in the partial government shutdown the remains in effect.
I vented my own frustration about the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare in a poem. In it, I took a few pokes at the Left and a jab at the Right for good measure.
I sent it off to a few newspapers, hoping they'd run it as a letter to the editor. To date, no one has done so. The editors of one website said they liked it. It was funny -- and right on target, they said. But they didn't want to run it. It was too controversial they said. It might offend people... It was too risky.
Whatever happened to freedom of speech? I thought. This is the United States of America. It's not Serbia. It's not China, or North Korea, or Iraq or Iran or Afghanistan... I'm not screaming fire in a crowded theater. I'm exercising my Constitutional right to self-expression.
As Americans and more importantly, as writers, we cannot take our freedom and our Constitutional rights for granted. We shouldn't be so afraid of offending someone that we censor ourselves, or worse let the government censor us.
Vladimir Putin recently said that Americans aren't really free -- that it's all an illusion. Of course we reacted angrily. But if we take a good, hard look in the mirror and are brutally honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that he's got a point.
That being stated, here's my take on Obamacare....
--------------------------------------
Although it's neither here nor there,
I do not want Obamacare.
So I won't enroll a few weeks from now,
I can't afford it anyhow.
I suppose I'll just pay the fines in my taxes.
I'm sick of politicians grinding axes.
I know our healthcare system's broken,
But Obamacare is a foolish notion.
Alas, there's no way to defund it.
Just ask any White House pundit!
Senator Cruz -- he's so full of bluster.
But please God, no more filibusters!
They'll never heed the people's voice,
In Obamacare we have no choice.
Now I rest my case, so simply stated.
Obamacare is over rated!
Until next time, "That's life..."
Why I'll never be PC
In case you've missed it, there's a debate swirling across America. The Washington Redskins football team is once again being pressured to change its name.
Some people find it offensive because of its racial connotations. Others aren't bothered at all.
My personal feelings about the issue are irrelevant. Even if I cared to share them -- which I don't -- this blog would hardly be the proper forum in which to do so.
Speaking in general, I will say this. People today are way too easily offended. And there is way too much pressure to be politically correct.
As an author and as someone who values freedom above all else, I believe that can be a very dangerous thing.
On meriam-webster.com, the term politically correct is defined as "conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated."
I agree that we should all be held accountable for what we say. Hate speech, in particular is intolerable. The consequences of making hateful comments -- maliciously or out of ignorance -- are justifiably harsh.
But when has societal pressure to be politically correct gone too far? When our fear of offending someone effectively stifles our freedom of speech? When it precludes open and honest debate? When it prevents us, as authors, from sharing our stories?
While I tried to share my own story as honestly and responsibly as possible, I knew many people -- including some in the transgender community -- would find my memoir offensive. I weighed the pros and cons of publishing it at all. But in the end, I didn't let fear of what people might think dissuade me from speaking my truth.
In print and in person, I will always speak my truth -- but I will never, ever be "PC."
Until next time, "That's life..."
Some people find it offensive because of its racial connotations. Others aren't bothered at all.
My personal feelings about the issue are irrelevant. Even if I cared to share them -- which I don't -- this blog would hardly be the proper forum in which to do so.
Speaking in general, I will say this. People today are way too easily offended. And there is way too much pressure to be politically correct.
As an author and as someone who values freedom above all else, I believe that can be a very dangerous thing.
On meriam-webster.com, the term politically correct is defined as "conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated."
I agree that we should all be held accountable for what we say. Hate speech, in particular is intolerable. The consequences of making hateful comments -- maliciously or out of ignorance -- are justifiably harsh.
But when has societal pressure to be politically correct gone too far? When our fear of offending someone effectively stifles our freedom of speech? When it precludes open and honest debate? When it prevents us, as authors, from sharing our stories?
While I tried to share my own story as honestly and responsibly as possible, I knew many people -- including some in the transgender community -- would find my memoir offensive. I weighed the pros and cons of publishing it at all. But in the end, I didn't let fear of what people might think dissuade me from speaking my truth.
In print and in person, I will always speak my truth -- but I will never, ever be "PC."
Until next time, "That's life..."
For what it's worth
A lot has been said about freedom in the past few days. Politicians, pundits, publishers and the general public have spent considerable time extolling the virtues of freedom of speech. And with good reason.At this point, it's likely there's little I can add to the conversation. But as you know by now, I am a former journalist and an award-winning author. More importantly, I am a first-generation American raised in a multicultural household. My father was a political refugee who was forced to flee a Communist country because of his political beliefs.
As a result, I have always valued the liberties afforded me as an American. I am fully aware of how precious freedom is; and of the price so many paid to attain it. Hard won, it is hardly guaranteed -- yet for some reason, so many take it for granted.
That being stated, here are a few of my favorite quotes about freedom of speech:
1. "What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.” ― Salman Rushdie
2. “Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage.” ― Winston S. Churchill
3. “Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets..” ― Napoléon Bonaparte
4. “The framers of the constitution knew human nature as well as we do. They too had lived in dangerous days; they too knew the suffocating influence of orthodoxy and standardized thought. They weighed the compulsions for restrained speech and thought against the abuses of liberty. They chose liberty."
[Beauharnais v.Illinois, 342 U.S. 250, 287 (1952) (dissenting)]”
― William O. Douglas
5. “The only security of all is in a free press.” ― Thomas Jefferson
6. “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” ― George Orwell
7. “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” ― George Washington
8. “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.” ― Voltaire
9. “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” ― Benjamin Franklin, Silence Dogood, The Busy-Body, and Early Writings
10. “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” ― United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Until next time, "That's life..."
That's life...
All you may -- or may not -- want to know about my adventures as an author and other stuff.
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