Today's quote comes from a very different author, he was born in La Barre, France in 2305. He went on to become a galactic explorer, diplomat and the captain of the USS Enterprise. Captain Jean-Luc Picard is the person I'm quoting today.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Captain Picard is talking to an internal investigator who is attempting to charge Picard with treason because of his defense of a suspected saboteur.
Picard is spot on though, if a speech or a thought or a freedom become unnecessary, if in the name of country, security or morality why is the next speech, thought or freedom any more important? Why should it be respected more than the first one? Every speech, every thought and every freedom should be held dear and protected at all cost.
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But is every freedom that we have worth our lives? Most people would not say that the right to, say, burn a US flag is a right that they would be interested in dying for. Are all freedoms equal?
But if we start saying "Well this freedom isn't important or this belief doesn't matter" then we start devaluing them all and we start down a slippery slope where no ones freedoms or beliefs are valued at all.
This quote by Martin Niemoller I think illustrates the point very nicely.
"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."
If we don't speak up for all freedoms then we'll have none left.
Aside from the general awesomeness of the speaker of this quote, he also makes a good point. It disgusts me that it is becoming illegal for private business owners to allow "Smoking Sections" in their own establishments, not because I want to go to Denny's and drag a cig, but because, well, where is it going to stop? French fries are harmful to my health too, are they going to be made illegal? What about replacing beef with turkey?
Our freedoms are worth fighting for, and if it comes down to it, dying for. A life void of freedom is hardly a life at all.
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