‘Unwelcome Speech’ – Talk about disturbing.

I’m disturbed in the same way the story of the boy who cried wolf disturbs me.

Sexual abuse is no laughing matter.  It’s serious.  Yet we trivialize a very serious matter by making subjective judgement calls about what constitutes sexual harassment or ‘unwelcome speech’.

Whose ‘unwelcome’ speech are we talking about?  

By these new nebulous standards of ‘unwelcome speech’ anyone who disagrees with someone politically or sexually or religiously could be accused of ‘unwelcome speech’ and his or her reputation could be impugned and his or her job imperiled.  I’m willing to bet a million bucks we ain’t talking about a threat to left of center political, sexual or religious sensibilities.  And I’m left of center in many ways.  I’m offended by this new Politically Correct version of ‘unwelcome speech’.  It’s unwelcome.

I can’t think of any classic novel or movie that doesn’t contain ‘unwelcome speech’.  To Kill A Mockingbird?  Women In Love?  The Turn of the Screw?  Jane Eyre?  Little Women?  Sounder?  Old Yeller  surely constitutes ‘unwelcome speech’ in doglandia.  The collected works of William Shakespeare?  Dante?  The Bible?  The Koran?  Remember the days of banned books?  What about all the James Bond movies?  Uh, sexist anyone?  I think I’ll go stage a sit-in at The Hangover III cuz that movie epitomizes  ’unwelcome speech’.

Ooh, and Mad Men would have to go.  ’Unwelcome speech’, I tells ya!  Hey, blood-sucking over-sexed vampires offend some people.  Better get rid of True Blood.

Sharon Osborne made fun of Anthony Weiner’s nose on The Talk just this past week.  I think Anthony Weiner is a joke of a human being and the fact that he’s running for mayor of New York is ludicrous, but her comments about his nose could be construed as racist and offensive.  Should I file a complaint with the FCC?

I can’t think of a single comedian who wouldn’t be banned from performing because comedians are all about ‘unwelcome speech’.  Farewell to the Colbert Report or The Daily Show or Saturday Night Live, or, god forbid, The Simpsons!  And Eddie Murphy?  Wow!  He’s known for his hilarious equal opportunity offensive ‘unwelcome speech’ humor.

So it’s like this–  I find green peppers offensive.  Perhaps I should file a lawsuit asking that green peppers be banned from all stores, markets and farmer’s markets because in my world they constitute ‘unwelcome speech’ as even the mention of a green pepper makes me uncomfortable.  I need to be protected from green peppers!

You think I’m being supercilious, but I’m not.  As a survivor of child sexual abuse, rape, and domestic violence, this stupidity diminishes and dilutes the real issues.  Besides, it’s flat out unAmerican.

In America we are allowed to disagree.  When I was a little kid, my dad was big into the Civil Rights Movement.  He took me to rallies before I could even walk.  At some point in time – obviously when I was older – I asked him why certain groups were allowed to preach hatred of other groups, and he replied – “This is America.  This is the greatness of America.  We do not legislate speech.  Under our Constitution, even hate groups have the right to express their views just as we have the right to disagree with them. Totalitarian states restrict freedom of speech.  I don’t want to live in a Totalitarian state.”

See here:  Feds rooting out ‘unwelcome speech’ on campus:  But what is that?

Here’s a portion of the article, a pointed comment from Wendy Kaminer on Atlantic.com:

“Moreover, what’s troubling to some critics is that the idea of subjectively silencing “unwelcome speech” about sex may seep into other corners of campus life, even going so far as to poison debates about personal ideology and politics.

“I doubt [the new sexual harassment policy] is intended to be fairly enforced,” writes civil libertarian Wendy Kaminer on Atlantic.com. “I doubt federal officials want or expect it to be used against sex educators, advocates of reproductive choice, anti-porn feminists, or gay rights advocates, if their speech of a sexual nature is ‘unwelcome’ by religious conservatives.”

“When people demand censorship of ‘unwelcome’ speech, they’re usually demanding censorship of speech that they find unwelcome,” Ms. Kaminer writes. “They usually seek to silence their political or ideological opponents, not their friends – all in the name of some greater good.”

We must always guard our freedoms and be wary of unintended consequences.

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