I am a huge proponent of the first amendment to the US Constitution, free speech. I also happen to be one of the minorities that believes all speech is protected, even if you call it hate speech. One of the reasons the founding fathers put this into the constitution is because without it, and the second amendment, we would not be a free society. We all can agree some language is extremely unimportant and adds no value to the conversation.
With the dawn of the internet, people have become braver in what they write. They say things to individuals that they would never say in public. Last year many people claimed, if you didn’t speak out you are against us. Many also posted, if you don’t vote with us, you are against us. Both of these arguments are childish responses and negates the opinion and ideas of the people they are directed towards. It actually takes that person’s voice away. We should do everything to open up debate and not shut it down.
Dad and I went to our favorite Mexican food restaurant to enjoy a great meal. There was another patron of the restaurant 3 or 4 tables over. This person stopped one of the managers and sent their bowl of queso back because it was ice cold. Now, dad and I always get a small bowl of queso because they bring warm fresh tortillas. Our queso was not scalding hot. It was warm. We have had it warmer at this restaurant. Neither of us thought twice about it and proceeded to dip our tortillas and chips in the queso until our meal arrived.
The patron at the other table had received a bowl of queso back and it still was not to their satisfaction. She complained to the same manager again. She offered him to test it with a chip. He declined and said he checked everything in the back and the temperature was fine. You can imagine this patron was not satisfied. After a few words I couldn’t hear, the manager left the table. This patron repeatedly said, I will never come back here. I will never bring anyone here for lunch or suggest it ever again.
Now Fort Worth has at a minimum 50 Mexican food restaurants. The choices are unlimited. This establishment is not really concerned about 1 person who complained about the queso. There were 2 other tables besides this one that had queso. We all were digging in with no regrets. I understand the concept of it takes 1 brave person to speak up, but at the end of the day, it’s queso. Not the hill I want to die on.
Dad and I both were laughing at this scenario as it played out. This patron repeated the statement, “I am never coming back again”, at least 15 times. As we were leaving, I politely told the queso manager how wonderful our meal was and our queso was just fine. You could see the smile through his mask and he thanked me for coming. All while this patron was shoveling their meal down their throat. Never stopping to complain again about their queso.
We see people like this all the time on social media. They are like a dog with a bone. They post the same comments all the time about the same topics. A lot of it is about themselves and what they would do. This is just as annoying as the queso patron. Repeating the same dribble over and over. I happen to be a fan of originality.
As much as I don’t like people who whine and continuously complain all the time. I will 100% work to protect their right to do it. That is a big part of freedom and freedom of speech. Does the queso patron look good in the eyes of the restaurant, I don’t know. Do they look good in the eyes of their family, I don’t know. Do they look good to the other patrons, maybe, I don’t really know. The reason is, we spend too much time inferring what we think other people want to hear and not what they are saying. We assume a lot about other people’s motives and actions when we don’t know what they are thinking. Now I will defend the right of someone to question that patron and even defend the restaurant. That is open dialog and a healthy debate. The queso is probably not healthy.
We lose our rights when we are shut down from speaking our minds and beliefs. We have the right to say the stupidest thing you can imagine. I caution many, hate speech is protected as well and should be allowed, this will be another article. The speech that is not protected is that of direct violence. “I will kill you” is not protected and you will possibly end up in jail if the person you said it to is found dead.
History can teach us all of this and from our and other civilizations. Maybe you should open a book and understand the past to prepare for the future. As for the queso patron and all the people on social media, I think you make yourself look like a fool when you repeatedly say the same phrase over and over only hoping to maybe draw attention to yourself. But, I will still 100% defend your right to do that all the time. I only hope that you will learn boundaries of socially acceptable behavior. If you don’t, so be it, speak away and say it as loud as you can!!
“Freedom of speech is a 2-way street. There should be no barriers in either direction.” – Jeremy Workman
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