There are ugly things in life as well, but we need to train ourselves to look the other way.
How often is it that you have no desire to start your day by fear of undesirable things greeting you?
Pull the sheets back up and get back into bed... but that is not a solution as the un-pleasantries will follow you in your dreams, turning them into nightmares.
Stick around and I will come back with some suggestions after I grab some lunch!
OK.
I am back from lunch. Had a wheat pita with Jalapeno Jack cheese, tomatoes and olives grilled in/on my Foreman Grill to perfection. Will paste up the recipe some time soon, if you like, but it really is a no brain-er, that is if you have one. I mean the Grill not the brain!
I want to talk to you about 'freedom of speech', an appropriate subject with which to re-launch (or launch since it was never officially launched) this blog.
Actually, there is no such thing as 'Freedom of Speech'. There are always consequences when we freely speak our minds.
These consequences may come in many and varied ways, but they are ALWAYS present, even if these consequences are non-consequential in the extreme sense of the word.
Let me explain what I mean by that. Freely speaking your mind may not always get you fined, fired, or otherwise punished, such as imprisoned, tortured, and even killed, but it does ALWAYS, and I repeat ALWAYS, bear consequences of some sort.
You see a friend and you think what they are wearing is terrible; does not flatter them in the least, in fact may even make them look ugly. Do you exercise your right to 'freedom of speech' and voice your opinion (out of the goodness of your heart of course), or shut up about it, or even worse utter some hypocritical compliment about how wonderful the color might suit them, or try to divert attention away from the eye sore garment and talk about their hair instead, or the fact that they may have lost weight, look relaxed, etc...
And, is shutting up about it not self-censorship? Then where is the freedom of speech here if you yourself will sensor what you are about to say, the TRUTH, nonetheless in this case?
What a dilemma!?!! It certainly will not remain without consequence since depending on the friend and your relationship, you may experience varying degrees of defensiveness, hostility or even an aggressive response in return to your exercising your 'freedom of speech'. The person will then exercise their 'Freedom of self-expression' and grab any one of the above mentioned attitudes, certainly not indifference, and retaliate... Therefore there is NO absolute 'Freedom of Speech'.
By inference, just like in personal relations, this experiment may be extended to societies, political entities and to nations... oftentimes exercising the right to free speech and to voicing an personal opinion may be nothing but the start of a major armed conflict causing the death of thousands if not millions in its escalating course.
So, what then is the solution? To take away the right to 'Freedom of Speech' from all living human beings? To advice its use with 'moderation'? 'Responsibly?' 'Constructively?' What about linguistic nuances and tone that may change the meaning of real intentions or to be more precise uncover them?
There is no clear answer to this matter. In this age of open and unlimited platforms accessible to everyone, this becomes even more important... Damage can be caused through speech, writing, expression and opinion, justly or not, because the spectrum is much wider and the reach is a lot more substantial.
I invite whoever wants to exercise their right to 'freedom of speech' to add comments and voice their opinions here about this subject.
How often is it that you have no desire to start your day by fear of undesirable things greeting you?
Pull the sheets back up and get back into bed... but that is not a solution as the un-pleasantries will follow you in your dreams, turning them into nightmares.
Stick around and I will come back with some suggestions after I grab some lunch!
OK.
I am back from lunch. Had a wheat pita with Jalapeno Jack cheese, tomatoes and olives grilled in/on my Foreman Grill to perfection. Will paste up the recipe some time soon, if you like, but it really is a no brain-er, that is if you have one. I mean the Grill not the brain!
I want to talk to you about 'freedom of speech', an appropriate subject with which to re-launch (or launch since it was never officially launched) this blog.
Actually, there is no such thing as 'Freedom of Speech'. There are always consequences when we freely speak our minds.
These consequences may come in many and varied ways, but they are ALWAYS present, even if these consequences are non-consequential in the extreme sense of the word.
Let me explain what I mean by that. Freely speaking your mind may not always get you fined, fired, or otherwise punished, such as imprisoned, tortured, and even killed, but it does ALWAYS, and I repeat ALWAYS, bear consequences of some sort.
You see a friend and you think what they are wearing is terrible; does not flatter them in the least, in fact may even make them look ugly. Do you exercise your right to 'freedom of speech' and voice your opinion (out of the goodness of your heart of course), or shut up about it, or even worse utter some hypocritical compliment about how wonderful the color might suit them, or try to divert attention away from the eye sore garment and talk about their hair instead, or the fact that they may have lost weight, look relaxed, etc...
And, is shutting up about it not self-censorship? Then where is the freedom of speech here if you yourself will sensor what you are about to say, the TRUTH, nonetheless in this case?
What a dilemma!?!! It certainly will not remain without consequence since depending on the friend and your relationship, you may experience varying degrees of defensiveness, hostility or even an aggressive response in return to your exercising your 'freedom of speech'. The person will then exercise their 'Freedom of self-expression' and grab any one of the above mentioned attitudes, certainly not indifference, and retaliate... Therefore there is NO absolute 'Freedom of Speech'.
By inference, just like in personal relations, this experiment may be extended to societies, political entities and to nations... oftentimes exercising the right to free speech and to voicing an personal opinion may be nothing but the start of a major armed conflict causing the death of thousands if not millions in its escalating course.
So, what then is the solution? To take away the right to 'Freedom of Speech' from all living human beings? To advice its use with 'moderation'? 'Responsibly?' 'Constructively?' What about linguistic nuances and tone that may change the meaning of real intentions or to be more precise uncover them?
There is no clear answer to this matter. In this age of open and unlimited platforms accessible to everyone, this becomes even more important... Damage can be caused through speech, writing, expression and opinion, justly or not, because the spectrum is much wider and the reach is a lot more substantial.
I invite whoever wants to exercise their right to 'freedom of speech' to add comments and voice their opinions here about this subject.
