FREE SPEECH IS A BEAUTIFUL GIFT FROM GOD IT IS OUR GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO SPEAK FREELY WITHOUT RESTRICTION OR WITHOUT HESITATION!
Freedom of speech knows no political party. Freedom of speech is not affiliated with a particular political party.
Freedom of speech rises above the cause and effect of the political divide. Freedom of speech is our God given right, our right to speak freely comes from God, and freedom of speech is upheld in this nation by the United States Constitution according to our First Amendment right.
The United States Constitution has no association with a political party, its policies, its fundamental set of standards, or its legal ramifications, and freedom of speech is exactly the same.
A person from one political party does not have the right or the authority to silence, sensor, or restrict a person's speech who is associated with another political party.
A person from one political party does not have more freedom to speak freely than a person from another political party.
A person's political stance or affiliation has nothing to do with free speech, and it has no limitation on what a person can say, when they want to say it, how they want to say it, and where they want to say it.
In our country today there is a lot of silencing, censoring, and restriction of free speech both in public, in print, in the news and online by one political party over another. And there is a lot of silencing, censoring, blocking and banning of any person that speaks against a particular agenda on social media.
This is a clear violation of a person's first amendment right to speak freely.
According to our first amendment right as Americans, every person in this nation has the right to speak freely without restriction, regardless if people like or agree with what we have to say. And nobody has the right to silence us or restrict what we say just because they don't like it or agree with it.
Ever since I founded our new freedom of speech platform American Patriot social, I have learned a great deal about what true freedom of speech is.
It's a fact that we are always going to have people that disagree with what we say or people who don't like what we say, regardless if we are right or if we are wrong. We must learn how to overcome our differences by respecting the right to free speech of others, and we can do that by understanding that we are not always going to agree on everything with others, but regardless we must never restrict our hinder their freedom to speak, and we must learn to respect what others say even when we don't like it or agree with it.
It is actually healthy for a person who disagrees with us to be able to voice the reason they disagree with us publicly and freely, according to their first amendment right. And as long as it is done in a respectful and peaceful manner that is not degrading or belittling it will cause positive growth and as a result the line of communication will be open on both sides of the conversation and valuable lessons will be learned and the chance for a common ground understanding will be possible.
It takes a person of integrity, to be able to respond to us in a positive and respectful manner, even if they disagree with us and even if they don't like what we say.
But people who lack integrity and respect who disagree with us will simply respond to us irrationally as a result of their feelings and emotions with negativity, slander or hateful words that are meant to degrade us or belittle us.
If there is anything that all of us have learned as a nation over the last two plus years is that how important and how valuable our freedom of speech is. With everything that has taken place over the last two years to limit or restrict our right to free speech, we ought to apply what we have learned in our conversations and interactions with other people moving forward.
As I said at the beginning of this article, ever since I founded our freedom of speech platform American Patriot Social in November of 2021, I have learned a great deal about what true freedom of speech is. There have been times when people have posted certain things on our platform that I really had to step back and think about if what they said was appropriate and if removing it would be a violation of their freedom of speech. And as a result of this, it has reshaped my thinking, my outlook, and the way I view free speech. I have a much greater respect for the freedom of speech, especially those who don't like what I have to say or those who don't agree with what I say, regardless if I am right or wrong.
One thing I am proud to say is that it almost 5 months since we launched our freedom of speech platform there has not been a single occurrence of anyone speaking to another person that was disrespectful, hateful or in a way that was done to belittle or degrade another person.
And in fact, we have not had anybody posts or any content whether it was a picture, a videos or text that was either inappropriate, or even degrading or disrespectful.
I would like to encourage everyone to really think before you speak, react or respond to someone who says something or posts something that you do not like or agree with. I would also like to encourage you to think about other people's right to free speech regardless if you like it or agree with it and regardless of what you think about it.
As we all know, or as we ought to know, freedom of speech works both ways, and freedom of speech always involves more than just one person. Freedom of speech is not just about us, our views, or what we think is right, freedom of speech, in fact, involves every person we interact with or communicate with. A mutual respect of our right to speak freely is what bridges the gap between a person who disagrees with us and refuses to communicate with us any longer and a person who will continue speaking to us even thought we may not agree, we have enough respect for each other to agree to disagree, but we set aside our differences as a result of the respect of our right to speak freely.
And if we as a nation want to be able to move forward, and if we as Americans want to be able to respect each other's right to free speech, then we all must take the responsibility to make sure that what we say and how we react and respond to others is in a respectful manner even when we don't like or agree with something that someone said to us or something that someone posted or commented on.
There are many situations where two or more people have had an argument or a disagreement that could have most likely been avoided if all parties involved had a mutual respect for other people's right to speak freely, even if they did not all agree on a particular matter.
When we can respect each other's right to free speech and when we can respect each other as human beings and our fellow Americans we will be able to communicate effectively which will allow us to unite together and work together for the common good of the future of America, its people and our future generations.
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WHAT FREE SPEECH IS AND WHAT IT IS NOT!
It's very important to understand regarding free speech and what it means and what it doesn't mean.
Just because a person says something that you don't like, don't agree with or even if it upsets you or offends you, and even if you don't believe what they are saying is true, that person has a right to say it because that is freedom of speech.
We need to remember that freedom of speech is not based on a person's thoughts or opinion, freedom of speech is not based on a person's feelings or emotions or their actions, and freedom of speech is not based on a person's wisdom, knowledge or experience on a particular matter. Freedom of speech is the ability for a person to say what they want to say, how they want to say it, when they want to say it, and where they want to say it to any audience, no matter if it upsets or offends people. And even if what a person says something that another person deems as disrespectful or even demeaning to them may not be deemed as disrespectful or even demeaning to someone else, but regardless, every person has the right to speak freely.
And regarding a true freedom of speech platform, it is just like being outside a coffee shop on the sidewalk if a person walks up and starts having a conversation with you, but he says some things that may offend me or upset me or some things that I don't like or agree with, that is their right to speak freely, it doesn't matter the environment, the surroundings or even the people that may hear it. And just as he has a right to speak freely and say what he wants to say, I also have a right to choose to walk away and not listen anymore. So when you look at a freedom of speech platform just because someone says something that people don't like, or agree with or even something that might upset or offend people is not grounds to remove it or delete it. If a person does not like or agree with something that someone said or if something a person says upsets them or offends them, they have a right to simply move on and not read it, just as the person who said it has a right to speak freely, it's that simple.
In our society today, too many people react and respond based on their thoughts, feelings and emotions, regardless of another person's right to speak freely. As the result, they want the person who spoke the words that they don't like or agree or the words of another person who upset them or offend them they want them to be deleted, or their content deleted and that's just not okay.
The two most likely things that will ever get deleted from our platform with regard to our rules and policies will be an inappropriate picture or an inappropriate video.
Trevor Winchell
Founder
American Patriot Social