As American citizens, we have the right to free speech. However, that right also comes with a responsibility to inform that opinion. To me, free speech doesn't mean seeing a headline then formulating an opinion based off of bias accounts. I mean, you can certainly do that, legally speaking. But you're going to look like an idiot, and anyone who even remotely knows what they're talking about won't take you seriously.
As I've said before, in my previous article, I'm no fanboy of Donald Trump. I said it throughout the campaign, after the election, and even now. I never had any love for the guy. However, I have never bought into the outlandish and factually incorrect arguments made against him. I wrote that article two days after the election. Fast forward to today, and we have seen violent protests at the inauguration, violent protests at Berkeley over a right-wing speaker, and some downright outrageous rhetoric coming from anti-trump personnel. Would we see the same kind of resistance and chaos had Hilary Clinton been elected? It's possible. Lord knows that this election was messy from start to finish, and it is likely that neither transition would have been smooth. But there's no use talking about what would have happened had Clinton been elected because she wasn't. Donald Trump was. And though there was certainly potential for this kind of behavior from the anti-Clinton side of the aisle, that's not where we are.
This has gotten out of hand.
What is happening is that far too many people (most of them young people) are making a serious mistake when they exercise their right to "free speech". It seems as though too few people involved in this movement take the time and care to objectively look at all sides of a situation before allowing themselves to react. Sure, it's easy to call Trump a racist and awful when you read a headline with the words "immigration ban" in it. Obviously, that kind of executive order should never have to be in place, and I certainly don't want it to happen, but when I look at the facts of the situation that we are in, the idea of such extreme measures is a little bit easier to understand. ISIS has been hell-bent on reaching the US for years now, so far with isolated cases of success. But their primary way of smuggling their agents into European countries is by means of refugee immigration.The first job of the Commander in Chief if the United States Of America is to protect its citizens. That doesn't mean every solution will be perfect. In fact, it may mean that some solutions are definitely very harsh and unfriendly. But that doesn't change the most important job of the office of President. Maybe the immigration ban isn't the right move. Maybe it will have far more negative effects on our country than positive. But only time will tell. And it's incredibly irresponsible citizenship to lash out so much at a situation that most of us don't even fully comprehend, but also has not even had time to develop into a situation that merits such action.
What I'm trying to say here is that this kind of behavior needs to stop. I don't mean you have to sit back and let Trump do whatever he wants. I don't mean that our government should be allowed to proceed unchecked by its people. What I mean is that there are right and wrong ways of doing so, and so far this has been just about as wrong of a reaction as it could be. The best way to combat politicians is to seek the truth. We should strive to find the truth in all that we do, or else we are no better than those we spend so much effort despising. Have the fortitude to seek out the truth before reacting, then react. Reading half of a Huffington Post article then writing a multi-paragraph Facebook post about an issue that you are apparently now an expert on is not a credible, responsible, or even decent use of free speech.
Think before you act, people. I know it is easy to hate Donald Trump. But if you claim to see the hatred in his actions, why would you fight back with more of it? If you have a better way, show us. Walk the walk.
Do your own research from unbiased sources, seek out the facts, then formulate an opinion and action plan which are backed by those facts. There is a right way to do this, people.
Most news outlets have agendas. And while it is certainly okay to subscribe to the opinions with which you agree, if you want to present a convincing argument to those who's opinions are actually worth swaying, these arguments must be rooted in facts. If you simply just repeat rhetoric that has been handed to you by someone with an agenda, all you're doing is promoting their interests.
Yes, it is our constitutional right to speak freely without fear of punishment. But just because you can't be punished for what you say doesn't mean you won't sound like an idiot.
