So I’m driving with my cousin Jad tonight. And well we are driving behind this woman who makes a decision. She pulls over, there is a sheriff near her, and tells the sheriff that Jad and I have been harassing her the whole car ride. That we have been honking at her. This made me stop and think.
People value this "freedom of speech" right? If we value it so much why do we constantly abuse it? The government takes away rights at certain times and well that is how it is but now that I think... they may have their reasons. People blatantly lie every day and we get upset when we believe the government doesn't take the people seriously?
As an Arab I have had the "freedom of speech" used on me many times. Day in and day out it seems that because I’m Arab I have to be plotting to blow something up. One day someone told that to me and I asked... why did you just say that? Their response. "It's freedom of speech."
This phrase echoes through the halls of the capitol building and should be reiterated through sea to shining sea. But people seem to now have forgotten what it has really meant. I have heard many people say mean things just because they are "exercising" their freedom of speech and it is just getting old.
Coming from a family that has not been raised here, the freedom of speech is never a thing we have taken for granted. But coming from many people that have always lived here? It has become a joke.
So I challenge all of you, whoever may read this blog, to stop using that phrase unless it is to express grievances against the government. The freedom was never intended to harass people, to accept the idea of lying, or to impede on the beliefs/ heritage of anyone. As a country our freedom of speech is something we must hold on, something to be proud of. Not a freedom to be abused.
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