We live in a terribly disillusioned and delusional world.  That is possibly an understatement of understatements considering the PC world of today.  I sometimes wonder what some of these people, many are my age and older, were taught by their parents.  I frequently wonder if they have ever read the Bible because the ideology they embrace and are advancing is foreign to its precepts.  I’m sure some on the Left and Right will disagree with that last assessment, but I believe it to be the truth.

My voice is not the only voice sounding the alarm regarding the lunacy, damage, and danger of attempting to create a Utopian world filled with ‘safe spaces’ where the snowflakes can hide.  My parents did not tolerate pouting and allowing hurt feelings to fester.  All of us have had our feelings hurt.  However, the rights of others do not end where my feelings begin.  Just because, my ego was bruised or my emotions were wounded by words or deeds of another, that does not mean I have the right to demand their censure.  It means that we need to do what my parents taught me, and the Bible teaches about dealing with others.

The Bible in Matthew 18 gives very clear and valuable instruction on dealing with offenses.  It gives a step by step process that almost none follow but would resolve a vast majority of interpersonal problems if followed.  The first step is go to the person in a face to face meeting before publishing the offense to the world. 

You do not go with a vindictive attitude but one that conveys your desire for reconciliation and clarification.  You identify the offense but do not become offensive and retaliatory in your conversation.  If you are truly trying to resolve the issue not get your pound of flesh, your attitude and words will be filled with grace, not hate and hostility.  It is first, one on one, then with two or three mature individuals who do not have an ax to grind, then take it to the whole church if necessary.  Forgiveness and restoration should be our desire.

Some may feel that that pathway works for Christians and church members but not people on opposing sides of political issues.  I ask, why won’t it work in all areas of life?  Is the Golden Rule not applicable in life? In times of conflict, I will often remind myself of the Golden Rule and the instructions of Proverbs 15.  Soft answers may not always cause anger to subside, but they steal from hate its power. 

My parents did not tolerate whining.  I was told more than once to ‘get over it.’ No, they did not use a meaningless cliché but attempted to teach me that hurt feelings were not justifications for bad behavior on my part.  They taught me common sense and values and instilled in my heart and mind that I was owed nothing by others.  I was sometimes reminded that everyone has an opinion, likes, and dislikes, and sometimes people would be thoughtless and inconsiderate. 

My parents frequently insisted that I remember how the incident made me feel and taught the lesson that I should never treat anyone in the same manner.  In short, they taught me to grow up and become a mature responsible person.  They taught me that life could be hard, harsh, cruel, and unfriendly, but it was the best game in town.  I was taught to live my own life and not allow anyone to control how I felt or how I lived.

In America, it appears that common sense (uncommon today) and values have left the building.  The selfishness and entitlement mentality that is pervasive today pose a significant threat to peace.  The fictional world where no one can be offended requires common sense to be abandoned.  That ‘safe space’ world is a creation of the mind of those who are unable or unwilling to deal with the realities of life. 

Dennis Prager and liberal comedian Adam Carolla have produced a new documentary “No Safe Spaces” that is powerful.  If anyone is concerned about the condition of our society and the dangers it poses to our Freedom of Speech should see it.  There is a concerted effort in America to limit freedom of speech.  Both Prager and Carolla acknowledge that ‘common sense and values’ are disappearing in modern America. 

That documentary in a surprising manner, somehow manages to draw agreement within disagreement from both sides of the political spectrum that this push is dangerous and damaging.  They include people from both sides of the political thought of some ultra liberal and activists.  Those liberals admitted, though may unwittingly that when the progressive notions of microaggression and safe spaces become the new normal our freedom of speech is endangered. 

Dennis Prager’s observation concerning the uniqueness of our constitutional guarantee of Freedom of Speech is worthy of mention.  He said: “What’s happening now in the United States, you are not to be heard on a college campus, or at your workplace.  This is brand new.  This is one of the few things one could say we have no precedent for in the United States.”  It is noteworthy to mention that Ben Shapiro’s speech at Berkley cost the University $600,000 in security required due to threatened protests.  Shapiro’s speech included his belief that there are still students on campuses across America “who do not believe that the First Amendment should die under the jackboots and Birkenstocks of a bunch of anarchists, communistic pieces of garbage.”  The reaction was a standing ovation!

When Freedom of Speech is silenced with charges of bigotry, hate speech, racism, homophobia or any other divisive and inflammatory accusation, Freedom of Speech dies and society moves one step closer to anarchy and destruction.  When students are no longer taught to think critically and debate ideas with civility, Freedom of Speech dies. 

When students are no longer taught civics and the constitution allowing the manipulation of thought by the nefarious activist posing as professors, Freedom of Speech dies.  A university should be, as Dennis Prager argues, “the place of ideas.”  Sadly, most universities today are nothing more than purveyors of activism and the dismantling of our Freedoms.  That is more than a minor threat, it is deadly.

We do not have the luxury of waiting for the indoctrinated youth to grow up and realize that the world was never designed to provide them a ‘safe space’.  We must act now, and one of our first actions must be political.  We must defeat as many proponents of the snowflake, safe space mentality as possible.  We must reclaim our government and therein reclaim education and societal interactions by protecting our Freedom of Speech. 

America, if we allow the toxicity of the current liberal agenda to prevail, we will witness the demise of Freedom of Speech along with our Free Constitutional Republic.  I believe the 2020 elections are that serious and ask everyone to earnestly pray, seriously think, and by all means vote.  I am voting No on the destructive path of today’s liberal ideology. 

God bless you and God bless America!