Monday, January 07, 2008

Freedom of speech...

This morning, Jackson had a doctor's appointment. After his appointment, I had to go to my bank to withdraw money to put in Dh's bank for our van payment. On the way to Dh's bank, I was stopped at an intersection. On my left there was a man holding a banner that said, "Hillary's Holocaust." On my right was a man holding a banner that originally said Hitler's Holocaust, but there was a sticker with Hillary's name in the spot not quite blocking Hitler. To my upper right was another man holding banners with Hillary's Holocaust displayed, as well as pictures of aborted babies. One pic at 23 weeks...the age I lost my twins. The other at 30 weeks.

I'm all for freedom of speech and all that, but this was so upsetting and disturbing to me on so many levels. I was so glad that the children I had with me don't pay enough attention outside of the van. Had my older two been with us, they would have seen and asked questions, especially about the babies. I'm glad they weren't with me because the pic of the aborted 23 week gestated baby looked nothing like the babies I gave birth to.

At what point do you think freedom of speech is going too far? And why?

1 comment:

Ami said...

I think many people confuse an extreme lack of manners and ordinary politeness with freedom of speech.

I don't believe that your (generic you) freedom of speech entitles you to swear in front of small children, shit on the flag, or hold up pictures of tiny aborted humans in public.

Are those examples freedom of speech? Yes, I suppose they are. They're also displays of appalling manners, wrong on many levels, and cause people to think the messenger is an asshole... which causes people (at least me) to totally ignore their message.