Tag: free speech

Naive Hope Springs Eternal

Elizabeth Banak

In years past, when I have reflected on 9/11, it has always felt like the best and worst of what it means to be an American — unimaginable pain, but also extraordinary bravery. We rose to meet the challenge together, bound by grief, yes, but also by hope. We cried for the dead, we honored the heroes like Todd Beamer and those many first responders who gave their lives, and for a moment, we saw each other not as strangers or enemies, but as fellow citizens. We saw one another as humans in need of comfort, action, and love. It’s always given me hope. 

But it today feels different. And I guess it has for a long time now.

Children are being killed in churches, who are then mocked for praying. Innocent people, like Iryna Zarutska, are murdered on trains while people do nothing to help. Charlie Kirk, inarguably one of the most transformative political figures of a generation, wasassassinated in broad daylight, and the news of which in some circles was met with celebration and ridicule. All this happens while the divide between us grows wider, the anger louder, the violence more frequent. Something in our culture, in the very fabric that holds this nation together, is broken. I don’t know whether it’s a lack of shared American values, the influence of social media, the inability to see those we disagree with as anything other than evil, the decline of God in our culture… I guess it’s all those things. But we are not the same Americans who came together after 9/11. And that breaks my heart.

Because I still believe that a better America is in us. I have to believe it, even if it is naïve, because the alternative is…too terrible to imagine. But we’ve buried it under outrage, cynicism, fear, and tribalism. We’ve forgotten how to grieve together, how to disagree with decency, how to love our country and each other, even when we fall short.

There’s no undoing the tragedy of 9/11. There’s no undoing just the last month of tragedies! Nothing can bring back what we lost — not only the lives but the piece of our collective soul that seems to be gone. If we want to be better, we have to do better. We have tohonor the courage we saw — the courage to serve others, even at the cost of one’s life. We must respect and honor the selflessness of people like Todd Beamer, who knew his life would end, but acted anyway to save others. And beyond that, we can agree that anyone should be able to speak freely without fear of an assassin’s bullet. We can agree that everyone should be free to worship in God’s house and not have to justify their prayers at their worst moment. We can agree that action in service of others in need is a noble goal, not a fool’s errand. These all should be the most vaunted of American values. 

I don’t have the same optimism I once did. I feel more sorrow than hope today. But I do still believe that we can be more than what we’ve become — if we’re willing to be honest, to look inward, to speak out, and to choose hope over fear. To disagree without hate.To call out what is wrong and to do what is right and just. To have faith with works. To live lives of virtue and honor. To celebrate the best of us, just as we did after 9/11. And to tell those who laugh, mock, trade in violence, and stoke division to sit down and shut the hell up! 

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27

The one about Cancel Culture

Elizabeth Banak

“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” John Milton

There are those who will tell you cancel culture isn’t real. That it’s a boogeyman made up by bad actors to try to ‘crybaby’ their way out of consequences. I’m sure there is a small part of that that is accurate. But if you’ve been paying attention the past few years, you know that’s not truly what’s happening. Public shaming has become the new American way brought to you by some of the same people who would look you straight in the face and swear up and down that they are part of the ‘no judgment’ crowd. Anyone out there celebrating when someone loses their job, has their life turned upside down, or gets dragged through the perpetual outrage culture of social media is part of the problem.

I’m not sure what problem we are solving when expressing the “wrong” opinion, making a mistake as a younger person, or simply advocating for your own choices makes you unfit for polite society. Aside from the obvious creeps, degenerates, and criminals who deserve their fate, the vast majority of the people being cancelled are no such thing. Cultural “book burning” can’t be the answer to the problem of the perpetually offended. Before you go and start celebrating another person you don’t agree with getting his or hers, I hope the life you’ve lived is perfect because when there aren’t any of those people left to ban, cancel or rake across the coals of cultural purgatory, or willing to stand up for fear of losing their jobs or livelihoods, there won’t be anyone to stand up for you when your time comes. And it will come. It always does and all you have to do is read history to know it. The ones leading the charge of the cultural purge are not friends to any American who values the spirit of free speech. Grace, understanding, forgiveness, kindness, and patriotism are all going out the window to keep this country divided and stifle differing opinions because we are all stuck in “gotcha” land. And the worst part is, we didn’t even need the hand of government to help stamp out freedom of speech. We are doing this all to ourselves with the clear goal of making people too afraid to speak out for fear of the consequences, not from government, but from our fellow citizens.

There are those that will argue that if you choose to live life in the public sphere or on social media then you assume the risks of that decision and that no one is immune from consequences of exercising free speech. That’s certainly fair. But the line we have drawn now says that anything that offends another person isn’t allowed. Anything that makes people uncomfortable must be silenced. Anything that questions the approved narrative is best not heard. Is that really the world we want to live in? Because it’s surely where we are headed.

We’ve handed over the reigns of cultural power to some pretty misguided people at best and truly awful people at worst. And they won’t stop. Not until they tear the country apart by its very foundation, some by natural consequences of their ignorance or indifference and others by the design of their malice and intent. And maybe you think that’s an overreaction and, if so, you’re free to ignore it. But do so at least with your eyes open. These people are no friends of freedom.