There seems to be some confusion about our First Amendment rights. This revolutionary idea that trusting people with a free flow of information, perspectives, and concerns, is central to a free society. We must support people’s right to express themselves, no matter how strongly we disagree. This right comes with the responsibility to do so with care and consideration of the context of the situation. If the person next to you starts taking off their clothes and making obscene gestures, that may be fine in a strip club, but if that were in a park where kids are playing, I hope we’d agree that that’s not acceptable, and we would want that person removed from the premises.
The developing mind of a child requires some level of protection, a difficult responsibility due to the continual messages that they’re never enough and they never have enough, and now the seemingly deliberate effort to sexualize children. Our freedom of expression is in danger right now. Not from people concerned about the children, but from the government agencies, universities and corporations colluding to censor important information, including the powerless voices of people who were harmed by the covid vaccine. This is one direct example of the importance of this freedom for making informed decisions. We’re being censored and surveilled like never before. It’s a serious threat that shouldn’t be confused with the effort to protect the precious developing mind of our children.
Shalimar Galindo