For freedom's sake, be offensive.  Not rude.  Not malicious.  But free enough with your thoughts that they are still your thoughts and not the programmed left-speak that is constantly in flux but thoroughly enforced. 

A generation ago, Americans would preface a potentially offensive statement with a quick declaration — "this isn't politically correct, but" — before charging forth with what was on their minds.  It was a brilliant idiom that contrasted the communist control of language with an American's freedom of speech but still demonstrated the speaker's awareness that what was being said might not appeal to every listener.  Today, when a boss or college admissions board or social media enforcer says something is politically incorrect, it means you've been fired or rejected for having thoughts that do not conform.  What not long ago was spot-on American irony is now reality.  "This isn't politically correct, but..." is now firmly answered, "Then you probably shouldn't say it."  Say it anyway.

A generation before that, it was the listener, not the speaker, who insisted on candor.  If an American waded into uncomfortable conversation and uttered something like, "I don't know if you're gonna want to hear what I have to say," the person most likely to be offended was often the first to respond, "Well, it's a free country, isn't it?"  You can't have a free country if you can't first accept that freedom comes with hearing things you'd prefer not to hear.  Freely expressed ideas, no matter how offensive, are at the root of all freedom.  You don't hear "it's a free country" much anymore; speak freely anyway.

Not long ago, American parents almost universally taught their children that "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  It was considered an important stage of adolescence to comprehend that you, as a listener, had the power to decide whether to "brush off" speech not to your liking.  Now words are treated as violence, and real violence against words is justified.  Grown adults walk around complaining that they've been "triggered" by a thought or "violated" by an idea, having never faced a real trigger or suffered physical violation of any kind.  "Hate" crimes are defined by "hate" speech, and every day, more and more words turn thoughts into crimes.  It is the legal equivalent of burning books before the books can even be written.  It has become dangerous to express personal thoughts.  It is uncomfortable to be accused of "speaking crimes."  Do your best to "brush it off" and speak truth out loud anyway.

And if you're a "free speech" Democrat, then it is past time to "walk away."  There is no room for free speech in a party that supports looting and burning stores in lieu of debate.  There is no room for free speech in a party that targets Americans based on whether they support their local police.  There is no room for free speech in a party that controls and manipulates language so vengefully that saying "all lives matter" out loud can get you fired, prosecuted, or murdered.  The Democratic Party walked away from free speech long ago; now you must walk away from the party.  

Love him or hate him, Donald Trump is a walking advertisement for freedom of speech.  Neo-conservative NeverTrumps demand he conform his language to that of past presidents.  The Democratic Party press corps demand he not point out the violence in "blue" cities, or how Democrats have failed minority communities for fifty years, or how the CIA and FBI conspired with the Obama administration to surveil his communications and undermine his presidency.  His own allies tell him to stop using Twitter, to stop verbally sparring with celebrities and athletes, to stop telling off foreign leaders in front of cameras while by their side.  President Trump ignores all his many naysayers and speaks freely anyway.  Right now he is the only leader on the national stage so unafraid of speaking his mind that it is impossible not to see how intimidated and controlled every other American leader has become.  And the more the press and the Democrats and even his own people try to hush him up by screaming, "You can't say that as president!," the more the president leads the way in showing us all how to get out of this "Gordian knot" of totalitarian speech control the Democrats and their Marxist enforcers have tied.  You just cut the knot.  

It's okay to say outrageous things.  It's okay to push a point of view not sanctioned by Harvard or the American Psychological Association or the collection of credentialed reporters who mistakenly believe that the First Amendment protects only what they have to say.  It's okay to ignore Twitter's "sensitive content" warnings and Google's efforts at manipulating the 2020 election and Facebook's rules for what may be liked and what must be banned.  

Just don't let anybody else tell you how you must think.  Once you've done that, there's no longer any more you.  There is only what the Democrats and their allies have trained you to be.  There's a great deal of risk in standing up these days for what you believe; stand up and be seen anyway.

Hat tip to Flavius Maximus.

Image: Tyler Menezes via Flickr.