Imagine, if you will, the following situation. You are a proud member of the My Little Ponies Liberation Front or MLPLF for short. You dedicate your lives to making people realize that the wonders of My Little Pony goes beyond mere children's programming and into the world of philosophy and mysticism. Of course there are infidels who disagree with your group's beliefs and constantly disparage you and even mock you on Twitter and Facebook. You are okay with this because Freedom of Speech is enshrined in the Constitution.
Now imagine, these Anti-Pony Enemies (Or APEs for short) decide that merely making fun of your beliefs isn't enough and they must instead knock down any symbols of the MLPLF movement. They rive around cities and towns looking for any signs that an MLPLFer might live there and when they see a flag, symbol or Friendship is Magical playset, they rush out and steal it away from its rightful owner. OH THE HORRORS OF IT ALL!
| Yes I know, its enough to break your heart! |
Now that situation is a little out there and just a tad silly, but stick with me here. It MAY get clearer as we muddle through. No promises though. So a friend of mine both Real Life and Facebook wise posted this video. Apparently it is a thing now where people who are driving along and see the Battle Flag of Virginia hanging on someone's property race over onto private property and steal the flag. That is right. In the interests of "justice" these hoodlums trespass onto private property and steal another person's property.
This is truly mind blowing to me. I am betting that pretty much every person who is guilty of this would be madder than Hades if someone came onto their private property and stole anything of theirs. This thieves seem to think that just because they are offended by said flag that is okay for them to take it from its rightful owner. Well, it doesn't give you that right.
There seems to be a common misconception over being "offended." People seem to think that being offended gives them some sort of special privileges. They believe that if they are offended by something, they have the right to do everything they can to not be offended. This includes breaking into someone's property and removing the thing that offends them.
Well, here is a wake up call which most of these nuts will ignore. The only thing being offended gives you the right to do is...well be offended. You can't beat someone up for offending you. You can't destroy the property of others because it offends you. Matter of fact, the only thing you can really do is offend the offenders right back by being offensive. (Okay now I am dizzy,)
It is okay to be offended by things you don't like. Heck your feelings in the matter may be perfectly justified. However, you don't get to dictate other people's beliefs or standards just because you are offended or think their standards are wrong. (Somehow bakeries and florists suddenly come to mind
here.)
| I dunno is this cake a little too...well you know. |
America is an amazing country. Despite all of the problems and stupidity (But enough about Donald Trump) running rampant in it, we still have unparalleled freedoms. We can pretty much say anything we want about anyone we want and it is protected under our founding documents. However, people seem to get confused about exactly what rights they have. You have the freedom to offend and be offended, but you don't have the freedom to stop other people from exercising those exact same rights. If someone says something or does something or shows something that you find offensive, well suck it up buttercup because there are jack you can do about it.
End of Rant
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