Note: the title of this post has been edited.
A disturbing trend has been growing in America for some time. The thought police are progressively castigating our speech and thoughts, and social media advances the cause. Sensational news stories, and not so sensational news stories hyped by the media so as to seem sensational, incite waves of emotions from the masses–some healthy and some unhealthy. I, like you, usually take to the internet and social media to express my thoughts and feelings on these matters. We vent, we emote, and we exchange thoughts and ideas which is generally a therapeutic process. But for some, the very thing that was designed to better enable people to connect is costing them their jobs.
Our Founding Fathers put freedom of speech first in the Constitution for a reason–when our thoughts and our speech are regulated, we are no longer free. Whether or not we agree with what someone says and thinks, whether or not what is said is disgusting, they still have the right to say it. And while our free speech right is there to prevent it from government regulation, it also shouldn’t matter where you work, as long as you are not on the job and representing your employer when you say it. Aren’t we all allowed time off from work?
It’s a dangerous and slippery slope when people lose their jobs for thinking the “wrong” way. Who’s deciding the “right” way of thinking? Where does it end? Will it eventually apply to which church you attend? Who you marry? If you choose to be single? The list is endless on what our employer might not agree with when it comes to our actions on our off-the-clock time. How soon until government takes advantage of the thought police snaking its way into our lives and passes laws regarding the same?
The freedom to think, speak, and disagree with one another must be protected, and we need to speak up for those whose thoughts are punished, even if we find them distasteful. If we don’t, we will see more firings and statements like this:
The Mabank Fire Department does not condone nor promote these type of actions or thoughts.
Thoughts. Think about that.
