On the Altar of Political Correctness

Seems to me it's a good time to bring up an oldie, but goody:

‎"We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions." –Ronald Reagan

If anyone else is a fan of "Band of Brothers," you know of Maj. Dick Winters, the CO of Easy Company in WWII. After Stephen Ambrose wrote "Band of Brothers," he encouraged Winters to write his own book. Winters did. He wrote about leadership and his experiences in the war.

After reading both books, I felt compelled to read the other books written by the men of Easy Company. They all talked of sacrifice, fighting for freedom, and several of them wrote about how disgusted they are with political correctness and the notion of chipping away at freedom of speech for society's comfort.

Those men fought for freedom. Their buddies died for freedom. They expect us to protect what they won - freedom. We need to learn from their experiences and realize freedom is not inherent in American society, but something that must constantly be protected and preserved.

When we remove the word "nigger" from Huck Finn because some find it offensive, we scrub our history. When we tell people they need to stop being so vitriolic in their discourse and call it "hate speech," we scrub away freedom of speech.

Who decides what constitutes "hate speech," anyway? Who gets to decide what is and what is not offensive? Are we really willing to continue travelling a road telling of  each other what we can and can't say? What happens when "hate speech" becomes a punishable offense? What happens when you're on the other side of "hate speech?"

With freedom comes personal responsibility. Each person is responsible for his or her actions, independent of society. Society is not responsible for teen suicides, what individuals say or write, and society is not responsible when a sick individual opens fire on innocent people.

We are each responsible for our own actions. It's part of freedom. We have to stop acting as if no one is or can be responsible for themselves or their actions. If we want to remain free, we must take responsibility for our own actions and expect others to accept responsibility for themselves, too.

Winters passed away this Jan. 2 at the age of 92. In honor of Major Winters, Easy Company, and the men and women who have died protecting our freedom, I ask you to please consider that freedom is not won lightly. We should not willingly take it from each other nor offer it up in the name of political correctness.

~ G