Perhaps an arbitrary question, but perhaps not given what I have recently been reading. Does being “woke” and in a position of authority allow you to unilaterally suspend the constitutional right to free speech? Now here I am not talking about yelling “fire” when there is not a fire, but rather having an opinion. Unless I missed it, I still think that everyone is allowed to have an opinion, and again unless I missed it, everyone is allowed to express that opinion – unless, of course, you are the President or the ex-President of the USA. (Another matter for another day.)
Recently I n a speech class at Cypress College in California, a student, Brandon Ellis, was delivering a speech on cancel culture and in the speech he referred to cops as heroes. At that point the professor then began aggressively interrupting the 19 year old student. As her interruptions continued the professor became increasingly agitated with Ellis’ line of thought and eventually blurted, “I don’t trust them. My life’s in more danger in their presence.”
So let me get this straight, the “woke” professor apparently thinks that it is okay for her to basically tell the student that he is not allowed an opinion on whether he believes that cops are heroes. OMG!
No opinions allowed . . . DON’T PROVOKE THE WOKE!
But, I can top that!
From Newsweek:
A New Jersey police officer, Sara Erwin, is out of a job after she reportedly referred to Black Lives Matter rioters as “terrorists” in a Facebook post.
A second officer, Sgt. Mandy Gray, has been suspended for six months and was demoted for interacting with the post.
Wow! What officer Erwin said must have really been really, really bad, as both Erwin and Gray are twenty year veterans on the force. Exactly what did she say?
At the height of the BLM riots in her June post, Erwin wrote, “Last night as I left for work I had my two kids crying for me not to go to work. I don’t think I’ve ever felt the way I did last night, and then I watched people I know and others I care about going into harms [sic] way. I love my police family like my own. So when you share posts and things on Facebook I’d really appreciate if you THINK before doing so.”
The post continued, “I’ve seen so many black lives matter hashtags in these posts. Just to let you know — they are terrorists. They hate me. They hate my uniform. They don’t care if I die.”
I looked up the definition of both “terror,” and “terrorism,” and this is what I found on Dictionary.com:
“Terror” – Violence or threats of violence used for intimidation or coercion
“Terrorist” – A person or terrorizes or frightens others
To me this is exactly what BLM was doing, namely intimidating and frightening.
Wow, and she was fired for this! Yes, as the Hopewell Township’s council unanimously voted to fire Officer Sara Erwin for this just last week.
No opinions involved . . . DON’T PROVOKE THE WOKE!
Even more absurd Sgt. Mandy Gray was punished because she put a heart next to Officer Erwin’s post. A heart!! OMG!!
No opinions allowed . . . DON’T PROVOKE THE WOKE!
But once again I can top that!
From Germany:
The governing body of German hockey is parting ways with German Detroit Red Wings goaltender Thomas Greiss for . . . supporting Donald Trump. HockeyFeed reported, ‘Germany has now clearly positioned itself on Thomas Greiss: When asked, sports director Christian Künastsaid: ‘As long as the current sports management is responsible, Thomas Greiss will not be invited.”
No opinions allowed . . . DON’T PROVOKE THE WOKE!
Brandon Ellis didn’t succumb; he stood his ground against the bullying professor, and she has since “taken a leave of absence.”
Officers Mandy Gray and Sara Erwin have not succumbed as they have hired an attorney, and should easily win their free-speech case.
Obviously the list of egregious attempts at the stifling of opinion could be much longer.
We must not succumb.