Welcome to a special post from 
It seems we live in very draconian times. Even though we may find it incomprehensible, the way our rights are being removed daily, as far as human rights go we (in western civilization) are still living in a golden age comparably speaking.
Now, if you live in a dictatorship, a socialist or religious state I am sorry, but you have very limited rights and it is sickening that it is that way but the rest of the world will soon be joining you.
As most of you know I served a good portion of my life in the United States Armed Forces so I have a different world view. I joined to protect the rights of Americans ( a sham, I know), I saw Americans rights get taken away (Hurricane Katrina), I imposed martial law on foreigners in their homeland, Afghanistan.
For many, it’s a relatively easy topic to discuss. Of course, we are for the right of freedom of speech but will we pay the price? What will you do or have you done to ensure that the right is protected?
I stood by silent while the human rights of others were violated countless times. I was powerless, helpless, and confused. What can one person do?
Honestly, dear readers, what are going to do? Write a nice hive post and share it to Twitter? Great!
But we face these problems every day. And even in my civilian life, I have seen careers ruined over speech. My politics professor in college shared the Supreme Court argument against same-sex marriage and stated several times in the lecture that it was the official argument of the court and asked our opinion on it and was fired from a state college where freedom of speech is the entire purpose of its existence.
Look at what happened to the NASCAR driver this week. He said the word “nigger” on a live stream and his whole carrier is ruined. You won’t find a single news article out there that actually says the word “nigger”, though. That alone says something about our society. Speech is so dangerous that have to alter news articles in order for people to read them.
Did the NASCAR driver have a right to say it? Of course! Did he have to pay for it? Absolutely, he paid with his promising career! Luckily for him, he has the right to freedom of speech and was not jailed or executed which is sadly a reality in other parts of the world. Freedom of speech does not grant you a free pass to be a moron it only exists to protect you from jail or death.
However, even in our progressive society in Germany citizens can go to jail for 10 years for questioning the official statistics of WWII. I can’t imagine what would happen if someone started publicly speaking about it. If you are a refugee applying for residency and you answer a question on your application that Jerusalem is not the rightful capital of Israel, you aren’t getting Residency and you might even get deported.
Back to the title of my post... all this aside I want to talk about hate speech. Another politicized term used as the end-all argument banning individuals' right to freedom of speech.
Hate speech is bad though right? I mean when someone targets an individual or group with a written or verbal attack it breeds anger and hate which leads to violence and oppression. I mean look at what Hitler did with his words?
Wrong. Libel aside, all speech should be protected under that right to speak what you want. In fact when a government makes hate speech a crime they have effectively outlawed a human emotion. Think of the implications. We are all allowed to hate just as we are allowed to love or experience any emotion, that’s what makes us human! In fact, I am sure some would argue love is just as dangerous as hate!
The right to freedom of speech is a huge spectrum ranging from disagreeing with a political decree, calling your neighbor a jackass, or saying that Christians should go back to the desert! 🤣
When it comes to companies and freedom of speech for me it’s a grey area. On one hand, I think it’s wrong for a cake maker to refuse to make a cake for a couple of men who love each other and want to get married on the other I don’t think the government should be allowed to tell the cake maker they have to do it. Maybe that’s why we have civil courts in the US.
The same goes for YouTube, steemit, Facebook or anything else. I think it’s wrong to censor content creators but I think it’s wrong for the government to force them to do anything.
That’s why I love 
We are human (modern, I guess) with emotions, thoughts, and ideas we are conditioned by the society we live in.
When I was growing up my mom always told me if I was offended it was my problem, no one else.
I think when people fear speech they fear the truth and in today's world, it is getting harder and harder to know any real truth.
I have no encouraging ending thoughts, I would say at least we have the power to vote to protect freedom of speech but we know that is bullshit as well. The only thing we have left is the power of a jury. If you find yourself on a jury it's the most power you will ever have to uphold the constitution, so I suggest you take it seriously and participate. Sadly, if you have a college education you will probably never be selected for jury duty.
Freedom of speech! An important and fleeting human right.