Free Speech Aways Has, and Always Will be Under Attack
Back in the 1980's, there was this mass hysteria called the "Satanic Panic". It was basically a reaction by parents and teachers organizations to express an irrational fear of the music and recreational activities of their children at the time. (Judas Priest, Prince, Dungeons & Dragons, video games)
See, the 'Baby Boomer' generation didn't quite understand the rebellious nature of their 'Generation X' progeny. And of course as a result, immediately decided to completely react in an irrational manner, while forgetting that they, themselves were once a part of the rebellious peace and love generation. A generation that their own parents once feared without understanding. So they decided to take action...
A group of Senators' wives took up a crusade that they would fly under the banner known as the PMRC, (Parents, Music, Resource, Center). The PMRC would eventually be responsible for the 'Explicit Lyric' warning that would become a standard for the music industry.
In retrospect, the crusade seems rather quaint by the standards of today. A group of elitists taking issue with the content of artistic expression and attempting to impose their own values onto the masses as a result. Basically, they made a mountain out of a molehill and attempted to legislate a cause based on emotion and ignorance. We see this cycle turning back today, only with a new label. The Social Justice Warrior movement.
Irrational and emotional outrage as the catalyst for legislation that penalizes people for having the audacity to believe in basic biology, or the concept of the free exchange of ideas through speech. This is nothing new. Emotionally charged outrage will always attempt to subvert calm and reasonable discourse. But we should remember that this form of outrage is nothing new...
Every generation will have its own version of the "Satanic Panic". The important thing to note is that every generation will also have its own Frank Zappa to calmly put the whole nonsense into perspective. And tell those self-righteous squares to go eat a bag of dicks...
And I take comfort in the fact that 30 years from now, the current generation is going to look back on the social upheaval of our time and think, "Oh, how quaint".
Great post. You're quite right, every generation has its own version of "Satanic Panic". I don't know if it's just me, but, it seems like this generation has more than its fair share of panic buttons. Perhaps it's a sign of people waking up but it seems that an increasing number of subjects trigger an emotive response and set social media on fire. Politics, human rights, immigration, social welfare and racism...the list is endless.
As long as we're fighting each other, arguing on Facebook and Twitter over our opinions, getting behind cause after endless cause, and worrying about traversing the minefield of political correctness, our leaders are laughing all the way to the bank and further closing the net of control. Fear porn and click bait keep us beautifully distracted as we march headlong into a dystopian future.
Thank you. I think you hit the nail on the head as far as this generation and its numerous panic buttons. The one thing that sets this generation apart from all of the previous generations is social media.
In the past, everyone had an opinion. But that opinion was pretty much limited to a vacuum. Today, any moron can express an opinion through a meme and feel like they said something important... Even though they didn't. They just expressed an opinion that they happen to agree with accompanied by an amusing image.
Politics, human rights, immigration, social welfare and racism are all issues that are timeless. They're nothing new. The only thing that's new are the forums in which we express our concerns about them. I'll admit that I'm a bit of a cynic. But I don't think the future is a dystopian wasteland. Only because I know that more people are waking up to the distraction of social media and political talking heads being called out as the charlatans that they are.
I completely agree. Social media is responsible for a great deal of drivel, but it has also been instrumental in waking up the sheep. We may be marching towards a dystopian wasteland, but the corruption in our governments can no longer hide behind a wall of secrecy and propaganda. Once awareness reaches tipping point there could be a paradigm shift, although this is by no means certain. Time and time again I've seen politicians exposed for a variety of corruption, only to see them either re-elected or protected by their privilege from going to jail. Once the 'untouchable' elite are held accountable and face the real prospect of prison time, then, I think, things will quickly snowball and the world will change for the better. I must admit, I swing daily between hope and despair as I watch it unfolding. One thing is for sure, 2018 is going to be a very interesting year.