Free Speech & Peaceful Assembly: A Conservative’s Worst Nightmare by @WillVanStoneJr

As you have no doubt heard, Vice President Mike Pence gave a pro-free speech commencement speech at Notre Dame recently and it ended exactly the way one would expect, with him missing the point (and irony) of his own words. It amazes me to no end that a career politician – now only one resignation away from the Oval Office – has such a piss-poor understanding of what Freedom of Speech actually means and how he abuses it like Trump does wives.

Free Speech

In case he’s forgotten those studies, I’ll remind him:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

As you can see, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution explicitly states that Congress cannot place restrictions on what we can say and write. The Supreme Court later extended this and other rights to include barring the states and local governments from preventing the freedoms we hold so dear. Know what that means? I can refer to the whiner as Vice President Douchebag without fear of legal reprisal. Yippie!

Peaceful Assemblage 

The second part I want to address is peaceful assemblage, which is exactly what the graduates who walked out on his pity-party speech did. While there are those who claim they were acting like the pathetic snowflakes Pence was bitching about, those small-minded fools would be wrong. They did not approve of what Pence has done during his time on the political stage and showed just how little they cared for his words by silently standing and stepping out. That’s so goddamned American I’m surprised he didn’t pop a boner, considering how much he claims to love this country. Maybe he needed a little (red, white and) blue pill. Who knows?

He ignored the walkout, as any in-denial, mansplaining bigot would, and continued to remind us all how little self-reflection the man practices by quoting a god whose laws he only-kind-of follows, threw in a few other “you, know” fillers, and followed up with this groan-worthy line:

… we must also listen to those who disagree, care for the bonds that join us together, and find ways to build a society where all can flourish – even the people who don’t look like us, think like us, or vote with us.

About That…

Um, no, I don’t. When you tell me that someone’s illogical hatred of my very existence is more important than my fucking existence, I don’t have to listen to a word you say. Pence signed a bill into law that essentially legalized discrimination and since I fall under the LGBT spectrum, that law effects me on a real-life personal level.

His reason? The poor, persecuted hate-filled Christians (don’t you dare start with that #NotAllChristians nonsense; I’m on a roll here) need protection from the big, bad gays who just want to be treated the same as their non-LGBT peers. Of course, we’re snowflakes for wanting such a silly thing, and how dare we work to make it happen. Ingrates. We should listen to him and learn from his bigotry fierce commitment to his personal lord and savior that he only cherry picks from to back up his desire to oppress make us a godly nation. No thank you. I’ve heard it all before.

He also signed laws telling women what they can and cannot do with their own bodies, always a favorite of his party. Because God says that’s the way it ought to be. Of course, He also said we can enslave our neighbors and marry off victims to rapists, but let’s ignore that like he does (at least publicly). We should just shut up and listen; he’s just disagreeing with us so it’s okay, right? And turning those personal beliefs based in religion into laws that affect everyone is just, um, how he makes his point… heard…? He’s a politician. That’s his right… right?

Our Founding Fathers

Let’s ask a really old dude his opinion:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.
– Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists

While there is no way to know for sure what Jefferson would’ve felt toward LGBT rights and abortion, I can make an educated guess.

 

Pence’s choices are based on religious faith. An embryo is a person not because science but because his god (allegedly) claimed once to one guy that “[b]efore I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5 NIV) and that somehow is proof that history’s greatest killer of babies and children is pro-life.

If you doubt me, read your Bible, folks; it’s chock full of dead kids. And his problem with the gays comes from Leviticus, which states, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination” (18:22 NASB) and “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them” (20:13 NASB).

Dafuq is bloodguiltiness!?

He also ignores the fact that these lines, along with all the ones he chooses to ignore (mixing fabrics and shellfish among other seemingly innocuous things are no-nos but, hey, only the butt stuff counts… ‘cause gays are icky) are the ancient laws of a foreign (and extinct) government that may very well have unrelated-to-gay-sex meanings due to numerous translations and societal traditions we don’t fully understand. Jefferson was all about using facts, things provable, when it came to law-making.

Pence is, obviously, not.

Our dear V.P. not only flaunts the (non) separation of church and state, he also complains when people use their First Amendment right when they get vocal about what a shit job he does, and still claims freedom is suppressed. Methinks he knows not what he speaks of.

… far too many campuses across America have become characterized by speech codes, safe zones, tone policing, administration-sanctioned political correctness, all of which amounts to nothing less than suppression of the freedom of speech. ~ Mike Pence 

He’s right, though; there is suppression of free speech at play in today’s society, or rather, the attempt to do so. People like him who believe there are those who don’t deserve respect, who shouldn’t speak up when they see or hear something that goes against their core values as a human being with all the rights and privileges thereof, when they realize that the very vocal minority have a sinister meaning behind “Make America Great Again,” they should just shut the fuck up and take it like they used to; you know, the good ol’ days.

He would rather we let it go like we’re fucking Elsa (from Frozen) and allow his fellow fringe conservatives to strip us of our rights, our very lives, and not fight back. We should sit there and listen to his hate-inspired words and pathetic defenses of that hate – which he would claim is love because, God – and keep our opinions to ourselves.

Let’s Discuss the Idiocy Point by Point: 

I’m not very good at doing what I’m told so I’m gonna, you know, speak out and point out his idiocy.

• Let’s start with his fear of speech codes. I agree; they flaunt the Constitution. They are designed to keep people from saying certain things others might find offensive and that is suppression. Let the racist say racist things; we’ll all know he’s a racist piece of shit and can easily avoid him. Everyone, even V.P. D.B., has the right to speak freely and openly. He’ll just need to deal with the ramifications of being a known bigot. Enjoy that shrinking circle, asshole.

 

• Next up is safe zone, aka safe spaces: a place where one can feel safe when discussing things like how big a gay they are without worrying about a big gay bashing. These are a necessity, mostly because people like Pence exist and hold powerful positions from which they can oppress. I will champion the end of safe spaces just as soon as homophobia (and misogyny and racism and all other forms of bigotry) be wiped out. Ball’s in your court, Pence.

 

• Then there’s tone policing which is, not ironically, used by people like Pence to disregard the meaning of words because they’re said with an outdoor voice while they themselves love to scream their messages. Sometimes, the only way to get your point across is loudly; just ask his boss who makes terrible and loud points but gets pissy when anyone says anything not-nice about him (like the fact that his face looks like the rotted insides of a year old Halloween pumpkin). Look at how the right has responded to BLM protests; it’s not said and done the way they approve (and apparently never could be ‘cause, bigotry) so it must be wrong. Maybe his side should take notes.

 

• And, finally, administration-sanctioned political correctness. The definition of political correctness, for those unaware: the avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against. Basically, it means “don’t be a dick” and Pence doesn’t like that. I guess he’s cool with all those fancy slurs out there. Explains why he willingly became 45’s running mate.

Why Fear-Mongering is Ineffective and Sad 

Pence’s speech was, above all else, a lame attempt at fear mongering. They gon’ take all our rights and force us into gay marriages and make us watch black movies and shit just like Obama took our guns for eight whole years of hell! He doesn’t give a shit about anybody’s freedoms but his and his party’s own (and only the white cis straight Christian male members).

He wants free reign to oppress anyone who doesn’t think the same way he does and to force us all to comply with his version of biblical law. What he should’ve done was take a moment from his dry, sleep-inducing speech and congratulate those graduates who walked out on him for being exactly the kind of people he claims so many of us aren’t.

We’re not out to take away his rights; we just want ours to be no less valuable.