Stupid Is As Stupid Does

The only thing stupider than people who are in the public eye not understanding the impact their words have on the general public, is not understanding how the rules of society will impact them. There is no shortage of ignorant prejudiced people in the world and with the advent of social media now there is a constant 24 hour platform for the morons of the world to espouse their venom. Everyday through social media, newspapers or the television we are given daily examples of intolerance in every area of our society, cultural, political, personal or sexual. Tony Dungee, Stephen A. Smith, and Kirk Minihane of WEEI Radio in Boston are just the most recent illustrations of this. Unfortunately this is a battle we all will have to continue to fight and I believe the good guys will win. An important issue related to that dynamic is the issue of freedom of speech. This is where people's stupidity really shows itself off. Every time someone says something inflammatory prejudicial or bigoted and they don't like the public's reaction they call it a freedom of speech issue. They say our country's founding principle of free speech is disappearing. Wrong, wrong, and wrong again.. The proof of this is that people continue to say horrible things about our country, our society etc. and basically there are no personal ramifications except the public backlash that possibly comes with their ignorant statements. Freedom of speech is not about the public blowback or society's outrage and reaction against inflammatory statements, it's about one's ability to make those inflammatory statements with no formal reprisals. In government regulated countries if you speak out you go to jail or possibly get shot. People continue to confuse freedom of speech with people resenting what they say. Every time someone says something stupid and there is public backlash they say their freedom of speech is being impeded. Wrong and wrong again it's not being impeded its being reacted to. Reaction comes with putting yourself in the arena of stupidity to begin with. If you have the right to say something stupid or prejudicial, people have the right to and will react to it. The 1st amendment guarantees ones right to say what they want, It does not however guarantee how people will react to it. Michael Kay stated recently on his radio show that our country is changing losing our right to free speech, sorry Michael you are wrong, our country isn't changing its growing up...