"We live in a time when smart people are being silenced so that stupid people won’t be offended." - Sharri Markson

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Today I was doing my morning stint of digging through many news sites. It is something I usually do every day of the week. I was hit by the quote that I have titled this post with from the Sky News host Sharri Markson. While I don't consider it completely accurate as I know some of the people demanding the censorship are quite intelligent they simply don't want the stupid/ignorant to stop being stupid/ignorant. They must counter anyone that might snap them out of the bandwagon they have the majority of the population involved in.

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(Image Source: roundseventeen.blogspot.com)

If you don't like what someone says...

Try the following:

  1. Ask yourself why you don't like it. What is it about it that you don't like?

  2. Then ask if you are certain that is the truth. Have you verified this information yourself?

  3. Was the way you verified it simply you trusting what someone else said? If so, have you verified beyond that source?

  4. Did you make certain the sources were not circular referencing each other as proof? Meaning saying C is saying "A says X", then you check A and they say "B says X", and when you check B they are saying "C says X" which takes you right back to the start so technically there is no actual source at all. This happens more than you may realize. A story is made up and numerous agencies will cooperate and use each other to make that story seem true. Since most people will not bother digging that deeply they treat it as truth.

  5. Assuming you have done all of these things and you still don't agree with something that is said. You should now have enough information to challenge what the person said with your own words. Give them some correct information. Give them a chance to learn what you have found out. Furthermore, if the discussion is public you also give the audience a chance to hear the information and see someone giving a reasonable response to someone else.

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(Image Source: theodysseyonline.com)

If you are offended by something...

Why? Is it something that everyone would be offended by? How important in the scheme of life is it truly? Could it have been accidental and unintended? Are you sure? To know for sure would you have to be able to read minds?

If you can't know without reading minds or them outright telling you they intended it then it is important to realize you are making assumptions. Those assumptions can be incorrect. In many cases they likely are. In such a case you would be choosing to treat the assumption as fact and by extension choosing to be offended.

Do you realize that if being offended is a choice you can just as easily choose not to be offended?

Which do you think would produce a better society? A society where people look for things to be offended by no matter how trivial, or a society where people choose not to be offended by anything based upon assumptions?

For me the answer is simple. Ultimately the answer to that is up to you.

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(Image Source: frictionless-commerce.com)

Implication...

I've debated enough times here, steemit, reddit, in person, and many other places where I will state something. People will then come back at me saying I said things that I didn't say. I'll say "I didn't say that". They will in one way or another come back to "you implied it".

If I didn't actually say it. Do you know where that thought actually occurred? ANSWER: Inside their head. They are the one that chose to take it there. Not me.

I've begun to sometimes tell people that unless I am saying there is a hidden message or telling you to "read between the lines" I tend to say exactly what I am thinking. Nothing more. Nothing less.

If you are operating off of implication then you are assuming because you are thinking certain things that I am thinking them as well.

If you do that to me you'll be wrong. I say what I am thinking. I write in stream of consciousness form and write what I am thinking.

I am not creating word games for you that you need to guess and find the secret hidden meaning in what I said. If you are looking for hidden meaning all you'll find is YOU.

So if you think I implied something racist. It happened in your mind, not mine so perhaps you are the racist.

If you hear the wrong pronoun and you think I did it to offend you. That thought occurred in your head. If I am trying to offend you I will not be subtle. There will be no imagination and trying to read my mind required.

When you choose to silence someone and it could be because they are implying something start realizing that implications tend to happen in YOUR mind. That doesn't mean they occurred in the mind of the person you are choosing to silence.

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(Image Source: ultimate-survival-training.com)

Weakness...

Is your understanding so weak that your only recourse is to silence, ban, censor, or cancel anyone that challenges your understanding?

Why not start using your words? Your mind needs exercise just like your muscles. You'll fail at times. You'll get stronger.

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(Image Source: mythology.net)

Full circle

If what Sharri Markson stated is true about smart people being silenced so stupid people are not offended. Keep in mind that some of us (I am one of them) don't consider stupid to be a permanent state. It can be a choice. With effort and choosing anyone can be "smart", "wise", or "informed" about things. Sure some people have a natural advantage. Some people will have experience that gives them unique perspective. Yet all of us experience things that other people do not. We each live our own lives. This means there is unique information inside of each of us. You simply need to learn to tap into that, express it, and help it grow.

As to the "stupid" in her quote. Sure that word can fit. I personally think it is also corrupt people, mentally lazy people, and perhaps unstable people that benefit from censorship of views they do not like.

They often hide behind the label "misinformation" these days to justify their actions. They don't correct the information. They simply advocate or take action to censor/silence anything that goes against their own personal world view. They think by silencing the so-called "misinformation" people will not hear it and thus they will be FORCED into only hearing the "official" story, narrative, results, opinion, etc.

How does that sound?

In another time misinformation would not bother me as a label. These days it is the clarion call of the censors, the book burners, and the dehumanizers.

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(Image Source: threadreaderapp.com)

Fellow Human Tip...

One of the first things to ditch if you want to actually be smart is the idea that when you are done with school then you are done learning. A smart person never stops learning. Every day and every encounter is another lesson and opportunity in life.


As to wrong pronouns. When I was the age of that child in pink above the offended section I looked a lot like SHE does. For this reason I am assuming she due to the pink shirt and hair. Yet my hair looked a lot like that and I looked quite similar to that at that age. Remove the pink shirt and it could have been me.

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(Me in the early 1970s)

Now when I got into High School and let my hair grow long and was finding myself in my early metal head formation I was occasionally called she, girl, lady, etc. Yet I definitely was not. We didn't think we needed to call the cops, cancel people, silence them, cancel their banking, or imprison people for such trivial things back then.

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(Me 1988-1989)

If it truly bothered me then all I needed to do was cut my hair. I chose not to.

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(Me and my two youngest sons - estimate 1998-1999)

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(Me and my middle daughter at the only Denver Broncos game I ever went to. Estimate 2009-2010)

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(Me and my two youngest sons I believe around 2010-2011)

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(Closer to how I look now... not sure when this was taken but is with my three sons - I think this was in Denver at Fiddler's Green for the Slayer retirement last concert... Napalm Death, Lamb of God, and Slayer)

Now there are different images you can look at to bash me for. How about that fanny pack? How about the fact I am wearing the same shirt in two of them though they are separated by quite a number of years?

How about I am overweight? How about I look like Karl Marx a bit in that last one and anyone that looks like that must be a commie.... :)

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