The lost art of conversation

Has anyone else noticed how timid people are when it comes to religion and politics? People used to debate, exchange ideas, and take full advantage of their liberties. Not anymore. Nowadays, without the mask of a net handle, face to face discussions on politics and religion are almost frowned upon. How did this happen?

Political correctness is what happened. Over the past decade I've watched as we've slid into a society very similar to the one portrayed in the book "1984" by George Orwell. We now have thought crimes, in a supposedly free country. For those of you who haven't been paying much attention, we now have "hate" crimes, which sounds less totalitarian than thought crimes, but is basically the same. When did it become legally sane to prosecute people based upon their thoughts? That's why whenever the topic arises, I always refer to "hate" crimes as thought crimes.

Let me be clear, I am not a racist. I don't condone racism. It's foolishly ignorant, and only weakens our society by dividing us into groups. How can we unite when all we focus on are our differences? Racism doesn't seem to bring about anything good as far as I've seen. I honestly can't understand why it's an issue. We all love, we all hurt, we are all equally fragile, and we all bleed red.

Now, that being said, if someone committed a crime against me because of my skin color, I would be just as upset if they did it for any other reason. Because, it's not the motive we need to punish, it's the action. If we are truly a free-thinking society, we cannot punish people based on their personal thoughts on a subject, only their actions. Honestly, a crime does the same amount of damage to a society because no matter what the motive, the end result is the same.

Political correctness has produced more than Orwellian legislation, it has everyone walking on eggshells. I never thought I'd see the day when white people are expected to feel guilty for their lack of skin pigmentation. It's also very disheartening to see that there are still people willing to try to capitalize on racial tensions. Politicians and community activists seem to be infested with the divisive plague of race-baiting. Even our fearless leader jumped the gun with racialist assumptions about law enforcement, but he ended up trying to save face by having a "beer summit."

The political correctness plague is more serious than any silly "pandemic." The foundation of a free society is free thought, free speech, and a free press. Currently, they all seem under attack.