I CAN SAY WHATEVER I WANT, AM I RIGHT?

IN 2016, it’s safe to say that we have reached a place where we can have open discussions about an array of issues and fully express our opinions. Social media has enabled us to unashamedly express said views and other trivial information about nothing.

Yet even with the advent of a less rigid society in parts, freedom of speech remains the biggest lie.
Yes, we are told that we need to speak up and share our opinions, proudly even. But if we view the way our society goes about it, we are doing this freedom of speech wrong. My cousin made a perfect example of this: Some people really think women shouldn’t wear short skirts, as this incites rape.

If this man were to share his views publicly, he is met with ferocious responses from people. Yes, his opinion is atrocious but the way we interact to help this man unlearn this concept is very key in effecting true change. The glaring truth is, people have scary views about certain topics.

This is merely the fault of their conditioning and lived experiences. But for us to speedily pounce on these opinions by name-calling when they are expressed, is where we fail change. When these opinions are expressed, it’s a great opportunity for us to engage and try to help others unlearn this education that their natural environment first predisposed them.

The more we choose to react with the holier-than-thou attitude, is the more we alienate and solidify their warped views.
I know it’s a challenge to take up the arms in a subdued manner, but we are living in a world where everyone can have an opinion, so we must stay ready to lead by entering discourse maturely.

One can have the most archaic, partriachial or racist opinions, the fact remains, we cannot infringe on their freedom to express said opinion.
As much as we hold our own values as virtue, they feel the same about theirs. We are the same society preaching the sermon of freedom of speech, boldly quoting from the book of Chimamanda, Toni Morrison or Bell Hooks, yet we are quick to inhibit the freedoms of another merely because we consider their views wrong.

Pray tell, if we are so ‘woke’ then we should have the ability to embody a different frequency in order to engage these views that can aid fight their so-called societal leprosy. Once again, I cannot stress the importance of highlighting that, our entire experiences that shape the view of the world are entirely learned, no one enters the world with any aspect of a world in which they haven’t experienced. Experiences and environment imprint themselves on our conscious as we traverse through Mama Earth and form the goggles through which we live and interact.

This brings me to another discussion, you can be the most liberal and consider yourself the most open person in the world, but let me tell you this: we all have prejudices to something. You may not be conscious of it, but watch how you react to certain people or statements and that’s where your prejudices lie. We unfortunately function with these stereotypes that are entrenched in our interactions when we come across those people who we feel are part of that group.
It is not until the moment of the interaction where your prejudices are exposed. Prejudices are always best exposed in-situ, like most things.
There are clearly enormous intricacies we have failed to consider when trying to rectify the opinions of others and the denial of our own prejudices, but no movement has ever been perfect. Next time you find yourself within an opinion you disagree with, take a moment, calm down and enter the discourse with a fervid calmness and aims of educating rather than persecuting.

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