Some credit freedom of expression having no greater ally than the 1st Amendment of the U. S. Constitution. For older folks, memories of a bygone era only? Our answer? Our children's answer, as they watch the world go by?
How is the American experiment with it going? Given the trend of recent years, how does anyone honestly and reasonably argue with the impression it is ... What? What would be the best word(s) to describe it?
For that matter, how is the battle for Freedom of Expression going anywhere else in the world? At least in any portion of it claiming that its people are truly free?
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Given my own answer to the title of my post being it is foundational to liberty, I am writing one of my first posts about it. On a blockchain that professes to be censorship "resistant"!? 🤔
Censorship
As 2025 gets underway, in America there is a titanic struggle going on over whether or not the historic First Amendment is going to be preserved. I personally do not believe any rational, logical, clear thinking individual can dispute that freedom of expression in America was under an unprecedented attack under the Biden Administration.
Source: Creator harshahars on Pixabay
Words like "cancelled" became common, when that idea behind that had never even been expressed until quite recently. Would you agree?
Worse?
At the height of the 2024 campaign for the Presidency, a former democratic candidate for the Presidency, Hillary Clinton, opined that those responsible for "misinformation" or "disinformation" should be put in prison.
To emphasize the current challenge facing freedom of expression, I almost gave up on an effort to find a source of support for this statement, since I had watched her say it myself. Result? Google's search engine seems to be having trouble "remembering" (a little humor for some people) anything about it, as nothing turned up.
Digging in via DuckDuckGo, I found references to it here and here.
Who is winning? Who is losing? Why is the battle so intense? What is at stake?
Is the Pen Mightier than the Sword?
This is a relatively well-known phrase. Is it true?
In response, my own thought in answering it is, if it were not true, why then is so much energy seemingly being expended to suppress freedom of expression?
Source 1: Creator OpenClipart-Vectors on Pixabay
Source 2: Creator Clker-Free-Vector-Images on Pixabay
The opponents of our freedom of expression seem to be everywhere. Opposition may come in the form of labeling anything as "misinformation" or "disinformation." Do we ever ask ourselves who is behind these judgments? And by what authority do they pronounce them?
Most importantly,
were these "authorities"
freely elected?
were these "authorities"
If any thought is given to something along the lines of a "marketplace of ideas", inherent in that thought is the idea of competition. If any one line of thinking is fearful of how it might do in competition with a competing line of thinking, what does that tell us?
Do the authors of it lack confidence they can successfully defend their position absent the use of force - at least, figuratively, and sadly in a growing number of cases, literally?
Teaching the Next Generation - How is it going?
For any of my readers with children, how important is their education? What are they learning? How are they learning it?
IMHO, many can become confused on the point of whether or not the answer is based upon what they are intentionally being introduced to at school by a teacher. While understandable, I think there is a lot more to it.
Can we all look back on our own upbringing? And reflect on what "stuck" versus what we were actually being intentionally taught? As a true freedom of expression exercise, we will all, of course, have our differing opinions.
Mine is that far more is "caught" than "taught!" I wish I could remember where I first heard that, but it certainly rings true to me. The point being that children are remarkable in their ability to learn from just about anything and everything to which they are exposed.
As an example, leading to some funny or not so much variations of comments like:
"Do as I Say, Not as I Do"
[Source: Parent Cue]
What is your experience?
As another example, with the relentless "assault" of all things Social Media and everything surrounding it on how our children are experiencing life, how are they doing?
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Whole posts could be written on this topic and its impact on our children. What are they picking up on all, with all that is going on in the battle for retaining this essential cornerstone of true freedom?
Food for thought, perhaps.
Now having finished one of my first posts on the Hive blockchain, I would be interested to hear from anyone on this topic (in particular, anyone who can explain why I found reference to it only being censorship "resistant" rather than "proof").
Memories of younger years, when there was no question of whether or not we were free to speak our minds is not a trivial topic. What are our up and coming generations experiencing? How does that impact shaping the future for all of us?
Is freedom of expression important?
Best wishes, until we meet again,
QT
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