Tag: free

The Word Police

The Word Police

Have you ever been arrested by the word police?

Where did the word police come from and who put them in charge?  This may seem like a bit of an illogical question. On the surface I may be inclined to agree with that myself, but upon closer examination, is this question really that obtuse? The question about the word police and the effectiveness that the word police seem to have in our current society, one may be inclined to ponder why this question has not been raised long ago.

To set a precedent, one may be able to gain consensus that “word police”  has been around as long as written history. We see time and again words that were considered inappropriate, or generated from a certain social class that were frowned upon or in some cases considered not acceptable to say in certain settings. We still see that today in acceptable words that can or can not be used on television or in front of children.  That is not the word police I am referencing, however. What I am inquisitive about dives much deeper, it is how in less than one generation, a word , group of words or an expressed philosophical belief can go from social norm to social pariah.

Let us start with  an easy one, Merry Christmas, it seemed like over night, these two simple words went from a friendly greeting to words one must not say in some places or words that one must then apologize for saying.  How did we get here?  If one is to give the false argument of inclusion, can we not see the folly and possible hidden agenda behind this claim?  Let us remember that Christmas is one of 10 federal Holidays mandated by Congress. Does anyone feel compelled to say Happy Holidays on  other 9?  Why then was Christmas targeted? Why in less than a generation did a seemly pleasant greeting, get tethered to political agendas?  Why, as a populace do we let that happen?

When does the insensitive moniker sprout wings and fly?  Specifically when and who decides that certain phrases and words are now insensitive?  Why do we allow this?  Why do we fall for it? If you know hate is not in your heart, are we as a society so concerned with dancing with the stars, or re-tweeting our favorite reality stars point of view that we stop thinking on our own? I do not know the answer but I think the question has merit. Personally I find it humorous when that high school student or college freshmen under the false premise of being open-minded swallows whole the viewpoint of the teacher without allowing real discourse.  The same professor who may shake her or his fist at greedy capitalists, who then force and mandate that you by the book they wrote for if you don’t you may and most often will fail their course. Or the professor who waxes poetic about equal rights and fairness for all, who uses their tenure to block the hiring of someone else that may be more qualified and knowledgeable in the field the tenured professor teaches.

What does that example have to do with “word police”? Why, everything really, because we are quick to comply to what they say or how they say rather than taking the time to “check the facts”.  We are told to “think outside the box” but it seems to me, we are then asked to do that thinking, from a smaller box selected by those who seem in charge of the words we are allowed to use or give merit to.

Try this at home if you get a chance. Think about 10 words that 10 years ago you would use on a regular basis to respond to family and friends, how many of those words are now considered hateful, or hurtful? Who decided this? Who makes these decisions?  You know what is in your heart, who put the word test together and why did they do it? What is the real motive? We live in a world were you are trained not to talk about politics, religion or social issues at the table, I sincerely never heard a more illogical idea.  If you can not “break bread” with family and friends and talk about topics that concern each of those in attendance when can you? Who then does the informing? Are you starting to get the possible picture?

I will follow-up some of the points brought forth in this essay in my future writings, because my thought at the present time is that they need a closer examination.  Why are we here and how did we get here?  Why do we have “hate crimes” by definition are not all crimes hateful?  Who makes this distinction and why? As a proponent of Free Speech, I know and respect the power of words, so I am amazed that Universities have “free speech zones” and so few ask why would this be OK to only have free speech is certain zones? I find the subject of language and words interesting, stay tuned.

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Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Speech

Something that we take for granted in a land governed by democracy is slowly being taken from us. It’s called freedom of speech. You’ll understand after reading. Reason being is that here in Germany, the government and Facebook have coerced to stifle any Anti- Muslim or generally speaking, any and all Anti-Refugee comments. Facebook/Government put a veritable Dog Muzzle on all commentaries pertaining to the catastrophic refugee situation here in Germany. Overnight, one Facebook group lost 600 members. Due only in part to making expressions and utilizing their freedom of speech. People who make simple commentaries on Facebook against the refugees, (and not all comments were radical to the tune of “Kill them all” or such), have or are waiting to see a Judge to be fined. One was fined €5000 for simply expressing his opinion. Even if you simply say; “Send them back!” Come on; take an educated guess where you will be spending the next paycheck? Correct! Foreigners could probably loose their permanent residence permission with such comments, and then it’s back to the homeland!

It appears that the German government, naturally due to its historical past, is apparently so scared to say no to the refugees, that they are willing to let the country figuratively, and literally, go down the drain. That and the fact that the government is so slow in making any decisions pertaining to the deluge of refugees. As stated before, he who would start making comments about the refugees will automatically become categorized as a “Nazi” in the eyes of the Media and government.

So not only are we being literally overrun with refugees from Syria, but now they are coming from other countries as well, to soak up the social system good life here in Germany and a few other European countries.

The problem of the near one million refugees, who wish to reside ONLY in Germany, is the fantastic social system, which by the way, said German social system gives more monthly sustenance money for a refugee than a disabled German born citizen. This is one of the points that really aggravate the German citizens. Another point is the sudden willingness of the Government to provide tutorial assistance for the refugees to learn German. And what about the entire native born citizens (be it the disabled children or simply the slow learners) which don’t receive assistance, or whose parents fight an everlasting battle with the system to achieve any sort of retribution for the cost of “Special Teaching”. There are lots of other little things which are aggravating the average citizen. To me, it seems that the media purposely brings reports about refugees who; are not satisfied with their living accommodations, want money instead of food, want to go to a specific town of their choice, and refuse to be fingerprinted. Of course, shouldn’t they be grateful that they’re no longer in a war zone where one can (literally) loose their head over nothing, simply being thankful for a roof, food and (most important) safety for their children? Another really big question is why do so many refugees absolutely refuse to be fingerprinted? What, or from whom are they hiding?

We also need to differentiate between those coming from the war zone and all the others (the majority) coming from other economically weak countries. The German citizens can assimilate with the refugees fleeing from the “Syrian Slaughter State”, but not those from weak economic lands.

German Free Speech 5

It is simply amazing when one watches the daily news reports on television, just to what extremes the government will (figuratively) bend over backwards to help all the refugees. Many people pay attention while watching the news reports, and I’ve heard many exclaim to the fact that they come with only the clothes on their back, but now are in possession of new Smart Phones! And then they wonder why the normal citizen is becoming angry? The local governmental agencies are requesting that if anybody has apartments for rent, that they take in refugees. And “Forced Rental to refugee families”, (meaning you have to rent to the local government without any knowledge of just who will move in, or for that matter, how long) is still being talked about from various politicians. Which sounds like Political Suicide to me! This is a BIG problem, should it become law. Many houses here have a second apartment which they would rather not rent anymore, due to bad experiences from former times. I am one of those persons. But many will do it out of greed, for they receive the rent per person, and not per apartment, for the square meter requirement dictated by law is less for refugees than for normal citizens. Ergo, one can rent and become almost 3 times the price one normally could achieve by normal renting. Lucrative, but no thanks! By law, when a house is sold, those who are in a rented apartment do not have to move out. They come as a package deal with the house. So who would buy a house with refugees? No one, period!

These are just a handful of things that only the normal citizen realizes, and I’m fearful of the oncoming revolution of our citizens, (which already started with the muzzle on our freedom of speech) for it will most definitely happen. If it doesn’t happen this year, then wait till next year.

Fact is: The Americans are seriously worried about approx. 10,000 Syrian refugees (and the question remains if they actually are all from Syria) from here being imported to the USA. Now I seriously have to ask; only Ten Thousand? In Bavaria, the land of the BMW, they are coming over the borders by the thousands, every day. The expectation of refugees was continually raised each month until the Government quit calculating how many would arrive. So, ten thousand seems to me a small number, compared to well over one million expected till the end of this year, and this year only.

But irregardless of where all the refugees go, be it Germany, Sweden or even America and Canada, there is now lots of free land in a country which is nice and warm. And with a beautiful ocean with sandy beaches, maybe we should all start building retirement homes in Syria!

Tommy Jensen

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