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I usually reserve my antics for Story Over a Cup for a light-hearted take on the world.

The action of talking about topics I want in a hilarious manner is a right that we as Americans, and now most of the world share – the ability to speak one’s mind without fear of recrimination from the government.

This act allows us to advance as a community and as a species. It has driven us to the point where this planet is more free today than any point in its history.

It has led to the toppling of cruel regimes, allowing those without a voice to find it. 

But now it is threatened by those who would silence entire populations to create a world without offensive language.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions like this.

You cannot, and will never end offensive language by censoring it. All you do is drive it underground. Until the right leader comes along and it is back in the forefront.

This is the legacy of Political Correctness. It is the law of unintended consequences.

And no good can come of it.

Political Correctness had its roots in a good place. Giving a voice to those who otherwise would have none. It has morphed into a monster called Cancel Culture. And it threatens the very fabric of our freedoms.

Everyone should have a right to be who they want to be, to live their lives without fear of repression. It is a thought I will fight for until my last breath.

I do not feel anyone has a right from being offended.

I am offended all the time by things people say. 

I believe in evolution, but will defend the right of a creationist to voice their beliefs. 

I believe in equality no matter what, but feel the racist has a right to espouse their beliefs.

I believe that coffee is best black and hot, but will not take away the right of a person to incorrectly order iced coffee.

Bad ideas are never vanquished by cancel culture or suppression of those ideas.

They are only beaten by better ideas. 

By better arguments. 

If you create the forbidden thought, you make it attractive, you make it appealing, you make it the apple that people want to take a bite out of.

By cancel culture or PC, you create the racist, the bigot, the homophobe.

The antiracist creates the racist. It is the inevitable law of unintended consequences.

By demonstrating the absurdities of an idea, by poking fun of it, by pointing out how little sense it makes, that is how you defeat it.

You may be rocked to your very core by what a person said, but once you make certain subjects taboo, you make it acceptable to have those thoughts. By “canceling” someone, you make them the martyr. 

The freedom from being offended will never exist. Someone will always be offended by you. 

An editor of the London Times once said, there are people that you may wish to offend. 

Thought can only be killed by better thought.

 

Michael Cole is a syndicated columnist that when he is not writing, he is plotting global domination. You can follow him at www.storyoveracup.com