I was a Gen X boy who grew up in the country, so my youth was filled with all sorts of moderately dangerous experiments and adventures; exploits that would mortify the modern parent. One such experiment started like this, “Hey Weaver, check this out.” We won’t name any names here, but you know who you are: I was in my buddy’s garage, and he had something to show me. He was hitting the side of hunting rounds with a hammer to bend the casing enough to get the bullet open and the gunpowder out. Kids, don’t try this at home! There are a few ways this experiment could have gone very badly! We would then make a line of gunpowder like Wile E. Coyote and watch it flare over to ant hills and stupid things like that.
Thankfully, his dad found the bent-up casings and shut the experiment down before we burned our faces off, but it was an interesting lesson in explosives. A hunting round is a deadly instrument, powered by just a teaspoon and a half of gunpowder, compressed into a metal shell, with one exit point blocked by a lead projectile. We have all seen just recently what a single .30-06 round can do to a human being. However, once that gunpowder is out of the shell, it loses its lethality. When ignited outside the shell, the same amount of energy is released, but in the open, that powder simply flares out with enough force to burn a hand or an ant, but nowhere near as dangerous as when that energy is compressed.
The Power of the Logos
As human beings, the “logos”—word, reason, rationality—is essential to our very being. The logos in western philosophy denotes the principle of reasoned or rational order. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the divine logos spoke the universe into existence, bringing order to chaos. As Christians, the “Word made flesh” is the full manifestation of the creator God in bodily form. Given its philosophical and spiritual centrality in western culture, the importance of the word or “logos” cannot be overstated. Freedom of religion and freedom of speech are akin to each other. Our Founding Fathers knew this, and that is why Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion are enshrined in the very First Amendment of our founding documents.
The Tyranny of Control
The suppression, or depending on your political bent, perception of suppression, of speech was a major issue in the last election. Government control of the media, particularly social media, the talk of outlawing “hate speech,” and the verbal hypersensitivity of “Woke” culture made many across the political spectrum nervous. This week, California considers Senate Bill 771, designed to control hate speech on social media sites. Alas, the censorship attempts are not limited to the left. In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, some on the right, our great freedom of speech champions, are talking about controlling so-called “hate speech.” Hint: the censors are never the good guys. Control of speech is the primary tool of the tyrant, whether that tyrant is dressed in Red or Blue.
As a wise man once said, “When we stop talking to each other, that is when violence occurs.” It doesn’t take a genius to see the slippery slope this whole “hate speech” concept is. Whoever is in power controls the definition of “hate”! In this “wussified” culture, we have come to define “hate speech” as anything we don’t want to hear. Conspicuously, the problem is inherent to the very issue at hand: when they control speech, they control thought.
We wrestle against the tyranny of the definition. I am sorry, speech is not violence; violence is violence. Like gunpowder outside the shell, speech can burn, but it is not deadly. The well-placed .30-06 round is deadly. Let Jimmy Kimmel say what he wants and let him suffer the natural fate of the unfunny comedian. Whatever my position, I should be rooted in a rationality that can engage in dialogue without needing protection from the government, HR, or a 12-gauge.
I stand with Voltaire: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” The problem with suppressing speech is that you are compressing it and giving it explosive power. Even the most fringe lunatic becomes an oppressed hero, a martyr for the cause, when we put a lid on their right to think and say what they want. Let the bad ideas flame out in the open. It’s better to know who stands where than push things into the shadows. Don’t fall for the lie that you need protection from the ideas and words of others. The truth, like a lion, can fend for itself; just let it loose.
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