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HATE SPEECH/FREE SPEECH, A BINARY(?) CHOICE [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-09-18
PART 1
Events of the last week have put Americans in a position of standing up or remaining silent about the issue of hate speech and whether or not it should be allowed to continue. This is a choice forced upon all of us, because to remain silent is to remain complicit.
The murder of Charlie Kirk and the subsequent fight over what can be publicly said about it has become the inescapable issue of the moment. Many have suffered consequences for stating their opinions, from office workers to media figures. Me, I’m retired — they can’t take my pension or Social Security away (yet), and life in prison isn’t nearly the threat that it used to be ( I still want that t-shirt).
While at the same time others have been able to say outright horrid (if unrelated) things that are pushing the limits, and get away with it. Looking at you, Brian Kilmeade. (You are an insufferable, insensitive, compassionless pig; but you have as much right to be one as I do to call you out for it.)
The issue is not what anyone on either side has said, it’s a fight over whether they have the right to say it.
HATE SPEECH or FREE SPEECH. No third choice.
I have made my choice to support free speech. In fact, many times since the election of our new pResident, I have painted some words on a sign and exercised my right to express myself in a country that, so far, claims to protect my right to do so.
Many of you reading this should get out someplace in public or cyberspace and follow my example, because you will be affected by this. But only by standing up and saying something will you have any choice over how.
I will be out on a street or in a park somewhere expressing my feelings about it soon, with a big sign saying so. I don’t see any info on organized protests in my area over this weekend, but I know where to go and the timing to me should coincide with the Charlie Kirk Memorial/Hate rally. And I certainly have anything better to do than see that. See you out there.
Be vocal, be peaceful, but be seen, be heard.
DO IT WHILE YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE.
DO IT WHILE YOU STILL HAVE A CHOICE.
Part 2
Another American tradition that exercises free speech rights are protest songs. Professional or street busker are equally welcome to express their views in verse and rhythm. Kid Rock and Bruce Springsteen are equals in this respect.
Yup, I alone could do this — use “KID ROCK” and “RESPECT” in the same sentence ;)
Anyway, I read a KOS article about a MAGA-RAPPER who wrote a particularly hideous song endorsing lynching people who have committed the unpardonable offense of being the type he don’t like. Somebody should say something. A few have. Dammit, I’m somebody today.
FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE !?!
No, don’t get on their side and use songs that endorse hate and violence, but find a way to stand against it without that being a part of the mix. I am hoping to see suggestions of such songs in the comments, and look forward to seeing what you have found that express how you feel.
I am not going to steer the comments and throw my own choices in here, I’m curious to see what you out there have found. But I will start things off with some lyrics I came across that have not been set to a melody yet. (My two cents, and certainly worth every penny, is that it would be wonderful to see what a politically polite and soft-spoken group might do with this. Like, say, the Dropkick Murphy’s.)
HATE SPEECH
HATE SPEECH
Who can deny
There’s too much
HATE SPEECH
Who won’t decry
That all this
HATE SPEECH
Won’t let us get by
without some
BACKFIRE
That come’s for both sides
and when there’s
BACKFIRE
There’s nowhere to hide
From all this
HATE SPEECH
They say
Tone It Down
But all this
HATE SPEECH
Will still be around
Because our
LEADERS
Are led by a clown
That spews out
HATE SPEECH
To all around
CHORUS:
I hate haters
MASTER BAITERS
Who just rile up a crowd
Who offer nothing
to make things better
But do it oh so loud
HATE SPEECH
Will do it’s tricks
HATE SPEECH
Is what scratches their itch
HATE SPEECH
Is protecting the rich
HATE SPEECH
Keeps us trapped in a box
HATE SPEECH
Is promoted on FOX
HATE SPEECH
It won’t go away
HATE SPEECH
Will be here to stay
(add infinite verses and chorus repeats)
[END]
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