"It's a free country"

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I'm getting more and more fed up with the idea that freedom exists in a vacuum and that everybody should be able to say anything they want any time they want. While I believe in freedom of expression, I also believe that in several ways the pen really is mightier than the sword, and verbal comments can be as well. And in a very bad way. physical scars can heal and be forgotten, but emotional ones can fester and grow and last a lifetime, and there's no ointment or pill that can help.

The thing about freedom is that if there were only one being in the universe, that being would be truly free to do whatever they wanted. But as soon as even one other being enters the picture, one being's rights end where the other's begin. Having honest discourse directly with another human is one thing, but deliberately and publicly causing pain of any kind to another human is ethically and morally wrong, and should not be allowed, much less encouraged. That goes for everything, not just words.

That flippant comment "you can choose how you respond to other people's words" is utter hogwash. It's the worst kind of lie. If everybody had exactly the same constitution, and that included being able to totally ignore other people's harsh words, there might be something in it, but in the real world, it is simply a tool to further victimize and abuse people who are already victims of abuse. It is evil, unethical and immoral. There is no justification whatsoever for abuse, verbal or otherwise.

On the same note, it distresses me that society not only condones, but encourages ridicule of others as "humor". "Self-deprecating" humor is fine and can even be healthy, but deprecation of others is never funny, it's just sad. There is a whole universe of stuff out there that is side-splittingly hilarious without resorting to the abuse of others (or reveling in the misfortune of others) in the name of "fun". Just as you should never trust a statement that comes after the phrase "trust me", anything that is the subject of "it's all in good fun" is neither good nor fun. Truly, farts, belches and other natural functions are far funnier than cutting others down to size. An intelligent comic can find silliness and merriment in day-to-day life rather than resorting to what really amounts to bullying.

If you're wondering, this post was brought on by the recent withdrawal of Chris Brown, who was "cyber-bullied" by Jenny Johnson for over a year before finally snapping and responding. Also on my mind are recent comments about Jose Conseco, Lance Armstrong and others. I can't defend any of their actions, but as my mother always said, "two wrongs don't make a right." Singling certain people out for constant public humiliation (while dozens of others guilty of the exact same things go totally unscathed) is never a good thing. Give it a rest, people!

tl;dr:
Another of my mother's sayings that I strongly believe is this: "If you can't say anything good, say nothing at all."
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