Political Correctness vs. Free Speech

In this day and age, people rail against hate speech, they demand that it be criminalized and banned in our country.  However, we have a serious problem, who defines what hate speech is?  If I criticize some of the teachings & practices of the Catholic Church, is that hate speech?  If I list reasons why I do not believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, is that hate speech?  If I criticize certain aspects of Sharia Law as promoting the dehumanization of women, is that hate speech?  If I speak my opposition to the practice of polygamy, is that hate speech?  

Instead of protecting people from hate speech, political correctness is silencing honest discussion and dialogue.  Instead of peacefully exchanging ideas and engaging in dialogue, many are being so severely manipulated by political correctness that they simply resort to shouting down anyone whom they disagree with, banning peaceful speakers from sharing their views, and smearing peaceful critics of certain ideologies as "hate mongers."  In reality, our desire to be politically correct is destroying free speech.  It is eliminating constructive dialogue and fact finding.  Take the city of Irving Texas for example.  In a recent 5-4 vote, the Irving City Council recognized the U.S. Constitution as the Law of the Land.  Why?  Isn't that already established?  However, those that did not vote in support of this feared that by declaring the Constitution to officially be over Sharia Law, we were being "politically incorrect."  To sum up the words of Beth Van Duyne: "“Our nation cannot be so overly sensitive in defending other cultures that we stop protecting our own,” and Free Speech is an essential part of our culture.  Political Correctness is blinding Common Sense. 

The "Politically Correct" agenda to turn us into a society where Moral Relativism is the Law of the Land is in truth turning us into a society of Do Nothings, in the face of Moral Evil.  It is in truth turning us into something that Holocaust Scholar Yehuda Baur told us never to become: "Bystanders."  We have lived through the Civil Rights Movement and the Nazi Horrors, which has made us see the necessity for tolerance and to fight against hatred and stereotyping, but this has morphed into political correctness that has gagged us into not discussing questions of evil when it is associated with certain ideologies in the world that we feel uncomfortable criticizing.    

In truth, Political Correctness is a very dangerous force.  Many people fled to our country to escape dictators and other governments that tried to tell people what they could think and what they could say.  The ability to think and speak freely was one of the major tenants that our nation was established upon.  I think our Founding Fathers would turn over in their graves if they could see how such tenants are being violated on a regular basis today by people adhering to political correctness.  We need to throw Political Correctness into the trash where it belongs.  Instead of worrying about being offended, we need teach people on how not to be offended and to keep the door open to respectable and honest dialogue.  

"Freedom is Hammered out on the Anvil of Discussion, Debate, and Dissent."

-Herbert H. Humphrey

Sources:

Carson, Ben.  America the Beautiful: Rediscovering what made this Nation Great.  Grand Rapids, MI Zondervan.  2012.  

King, Jeff.  Islam Uncensored.  Washington D.C.: International Christian Concern, 2011.

Stefanick, Chris.  Absolute Relativism: The New Dictatorship and What to do About it."  San Diego: Catholic Answers Press, 2011.

-