Free Speech For All

I want to give credit to Vocal.Media for being a great platform for free speech as I understand it. I have been able to publish articles that deal with controversial ideas that definitely go against the grain of mainstream thinking, (or non-thinking, as the case may be).

Right now, one of the biggest issues on the radar screen has to do with "hate speech." I put this term in quotes because I believe it is subjective to the audience, and also susceptible to being used to push different agendas regarding censorship and other forms of suppression.

What tends to happen is that some people advocate for the idea that certain ideas and opinions should not be allowed to be expressed. We are not talking about acts of violence here; simply the right for individuals to organize and express themselves as they wish, without being impeded by their government or anyone else.

There is a self-correcting mechanism at work in the Universe that deals with hatred much more effectively and organically than we are attempting to do through censorship and "hating hatred." The irony in today's world is that if someone doesn't like something, it ends up all over social media. We want to recruit others to hate and disagree with the same things as ourselves, and form campaigns that go against what we dislike.

A common narrative is basically, "They shouldn't be allowed to say that. Free speech only goes so far." I would argue that as long as there is no violence involved, it is much more effective to simply let speech happen or not happen as it does. Indeed, we may find ourselves in a more peaceful state of mind if we recognize when a tale is being told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Taking action to censor people who are merely expressing ideas through speech and writing is like the ocean trying to stop a few ripples and waves with a tsunami. The backlash towards ideas we do not agree with only serves to strengthen that group through a relationship based on opposition. The more effective way to deal with anything we don't like is to simply reinforce what we DO like, what we actually stand for.

Rather than being against hate speech, propagate loving ideas and positive solutions. Seeking to censor someone else will only serve to publicize them and feed into their pain and insecurity at the root of why they are hateful in the first place. Those who are hateful are already sowing their own seeds; they don't need more attention and focus from the world at large.

The modern colloquialism "haters gonna hate" is basically saying "live and let live." The interesting thing that happens when people simply ignore messages they don't agree with is that negative or hateful rhetoric begins to subside. What we have now is the polarizing of hatred against hatred trying to get rid of itself. The mass consciousness of humanity is slowly waking up to the fact that only love, forgiveness, peace, and the higher states of being can truly move us beyond these negative states.

My own mentor and teacher Matt Kahn has an interesting perspective on hate. He suggests that if we give ourselves and society full permission to hate, we would never consciously choose hatred at all. The negativity we see is a result of repression and denial of unhealed pain within, projected out into the world. Attempting to censor and curtail negative messages simply adds fuel to the fire.

While a society can never condone or enable any kind of violence, we must always respect the right of individuals and groups to think, say, and believe what they will, while understanding the great context. When we realize our essential oneness with each other, the idea of hate groups will be a distant memory. Until then, we need to seek to create unity in our communities and give love to those who need it the most.

www.seedsoflove.ca