For most of history saying something that contradicted those in power was a crime, in many cases punishable by death. Gradually people realised, we’re not truly free unless we can speak our mind, decide the words we use, and criticise those in power. This became one of the founding pillars of western democracy, that was until political correctness.

Free speech means you can say whatever you want, and the government can’t stop you, they can’t jail you for it, it doesn’t mean people have to listen, and doesn’t mean people can’t disagree.

Free speech was not seen as a left or right-wing issue but a universally agreed principle. Recently however, the progressive left turned its back on this principle in favour of political correctness.

Political correctness is used to limit free speech, it’s one of the most dangerous tools used by the left for social engineering. It works in several ways. First, change the way people speak, second change how we act and think.

It does this by making certain topics socially off-limits. Once a topic becomes off-limits people stop talking about it. Then the only opinions they hear are the Politically Correct, and in the case of immigration, for example, the open borders version pushed by the media.

They label any discussion of immigration, politically incorrect or racist. As the left pushes this language on everyone, they show their glaring hypocrisy by openly judging people’s right to an opinion based on their skin colour, sexual orientation or gender.

Phrases like ‘pale, male and stale’ have become so socially acceptable that they regularly appear in the Irish media. People’s opinions are prefaced by describing them as a straight, white and male to bias the reader before they get to read the content of the story.

They’ve decided that any discussion no matter how reasonable about Islam, is Islamophobic – while targeting Christianity with relentless abuse. They’ve decided any discussion about free speech is right wing, while pushing draconian hate speech and compelled speech legislation.

One of the claims made about political correctness, is that its purpose is to make language more inclusive and less offensive, but our freedom of speech, is the gift of those who challenged authority and gave offence.

In the 15th century Copernicus offended the church, when he said the sun is the centre of the universe not the earth. Then in the 19th century the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin received similar treatment. In the Soviet Union in the 1920’s, anyone that disagreed with the party was shipped to a Gulag in Siberia, where millions of people died.

The lessons of history that led to our modern freedoms, were paid for with the blood of millions. The millions that died in regimes before these freedoms existed.

These lessons led to free speech being included in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states; 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.

The greatest threats to our freedom of speech comes from political correctness, pushed by academia and put into law by left leaning governments. The left uses it, as Jordan Peterson puts it, to control the linguistic territory. To reduce our right to free speech, is to reduce our right to disagree with their policies – one word at a time. This process is cumulative and relentless, and will eventually result in all language being policed.

Most people don’t care about political correctness, they’re too busy living their lives, working, paying their mortgage, and raising their children. This is something the left counts on, people ignoring the madness.

It allows them to push farther without resistance, and any resistance they do meet is answered with, racist or fascist. The longer it goes unchallenged, the more areas of life it infects, and the harder it will be to stop.

The most authoritarian form of political correctness is pushed in academia, and it’s creating an entire generation of far-left activists. Many areas have become echo chambers and follow a radicalised form of political correctness.

The people pushing this are offended by almost everything, and if someone that’s offended by everything can decide what’s offensive, well then everything becomes offensive. If they create laws around the fact, all speech will be policed.

Some examples of what’s being pushed in universities: University of Michigan: Labelled the words Crazy, Illegal Alien and Ghetto, as offensive. The British Medical Association state they should no longer call pregnant women ‘expectant mothers,’ as it might offend trans people.

The University of west Virginia wants students to stop using boyfriend or girlfriend they are too gender specific. University of New Hampshire, said the phrase senior citizen is offensive and we should use people of advanced age.

Overweight is offensive too, so the politically correct term is ‘people of size,’ and the word American is offensive, so they want to use ‘resident of the United States.’ In the UK, a Labour MP is campaigning to make cat calling a hate crime, another wants to prevent people using private groups for chat on social media.

Trinity College Dublin is phasing out the word freshman, it’s not inclusive enough. A Fingal county councillor for people before profit, opposed flying the Irish flag, saying that it might offend foreign nationals.

During the referendum on the 8th amendment, it was deemed that discussing abortion procedures, or what would happen to the bodies of aborted babies was offensive. Apparently, it’s more offensive to describe a procedure, than it is to carry out the dismemberment.

Many on the left now suggest nationalism is hateful and racist, another ‘offensive’ concept – and so they attempt to suggest nationalism leads to Nazism. The root of the word ‘Nazi’ is ‘National Socialist German Workers’ Party.’

Nazism took the worst parts of the left, government authoritarianism and socialism, and put them together with the worst parts of the right. But remember; it was nationalist countries that fought the Nazis too. Nationalism leading to Nazism is a fallacy.

The latest target of the progressive left are the words mother and father. the left wants to replace them with Parent 1 and Parent 2, and have done already in some European countries. Imagine that the words mother and father can now be considered offensive.

The left will never stop reducing the bounds of free speech. Our freedoms are gained an inch at a time, or in the case of political correctness, lost one word at a time. If you value your freedom of speech and freedom of expression, stop accepting it and playing by its rules.

 

Posted by Neil O'Mahoney

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