Tag: Free Speech

Poetics: Poetry of Place and Space – d’Verse Poets Pub

On By Susan St.PierreIn Words 'n' such Poetry18 Comments


A Prescient Place and Space

A place of universal might
Is a pensive, honest, mind.
A gracious gift and human right,
A place of universal might.

Lies to self-such foolish plight,
No wisdom shall you find.
A place of universal might
Is a pensive, honest, mind.

Creative space in a prescient plan
Our free-thought an age-old claim.
Weighty words belong to ‘man’.
Creative space in a prescient plan.

Cultures cannot thwart nor ban,
Deductions twits cry lame.
Creative space in a prescient plan
Our free-thought an age-old claim.


https://dversepoets.com/2023/03/14/poetics-poetry-of-place-and-space/

Reena’s Xploration Challenge #269- Indecent Exposure

On By Susan St.PierreIn Words 'n' such Poetry19 Comments

Today’s theme is Sarcasm.


There’s no doubt that sarcasm takes ‘wit’,
And it’s not at all troubling to me.
There’s wry humor in my use of it.
There’s no doubt that sarcasm takes ‘wit’.
Ah, there are those who don’t like it one bit!
Their hearts are more decent, you see.
There’s no doubt that sarcasm takes ‘wit’,
And it’s not at all troubling to me.


https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2023/02/23/reenas-xploration-challenge-269/

Unanswered Question: Am I supposed to be ashamed of being political?

On By Susan St.PierreIn In my humble opinion..., Unanswered Questions8 Comments


Let’s face it. Most people are well-intentioned.
And many well-intentioned people ask themselves hard questions on a regular basis such as “Should I do or say something?” or “Am I being considerate enough of others?”.

Well, this ‘soul searching’ is good, and IMHO, we are wise to keep those things in mind. So, for me, the number of my opinion posts that ‘lean’ into politics made me ask myself, “Am I supposed to be ashamed of being political?”.

We know that people are ‘sensitive’ about political topics so perhaps I should keep that volume down a bit because there are obviously many other things to discuss, right?

Gardening, family, Nature, Pop culture, celebrities, sports, my future plans, etc. came to mind. What a surprise! Every one of those topics, and every other one that I ‘grabbed’ at, had a political thread if discussed to any level past ‘small talk’.

Don’t believe me?

Gardening and Nature get straight to Climate Change and the economy.
Family? Many (to most) of us have members with ‘gender issues’, have kids in *public education, have members with ‘drug’ and/or ‘medical’ concerns and have members who are experiencing a ‘financial’ pinch.
Pop culture? We know how quickly that goes political!
Sports? This too has been ‘tainted’ so much that a former football junkie like me hasn’t watched a game in 6 years.
Future plans? Don’t those things almost entirely depend on the political ‘management’ of our country?!

Are you seeing the same trend that I am?
It wasn’t me who did that.
I’ll leave the investigation of “Who did that?” for another thread.

Then I asked myself another question once I made that ‘everything’s political’ discovery. So, is keeping an ‘eye’ on politics a ‘bad thing’?

My answer is basically “No” (It can be overdone on a personal level.). It’s becoming abundantly clear that if a country doesn’t have a base-line cultural value system it’s in trouble. If many things actually have a thread of ‘politics’ (as I have revealed) then having healthy political systems are one of the MOST important things and the citizenry has to pursue a consensus for everyone’s sake.

Last question, “But what about everyone’s sensitive feelings about politics, shouldn’t I protect them?”

Brace yourself…
That’s a great big “Nope”. Staying silent (or being silenced) is not an option in a “free society” if you want to keep it.

I still don’t know if I’m supposed to be ashamed of “being political” according to some modern etiquette plan?
What I DO know is my own value system won’t let me even consider complying with that idea.




* Whether you agree with “woke” school policies or not, the point of this post is “everything is political”. Talking about schooling leads to “woke” policies quickly.

Thinking Isn’t Hard but Speaking Is- Food for Thought

On By Susan St.PierreIn In my humble opinion...8 Comments

Have you ever examined how few concepts have true opposites? Except for the colors black and white, with the condition of ‘white’ being the reflection of all color and ‘black’ oppositely absorbing all color, I cannot think of any. Even our concept of the commonly accepted opposites of ‘up’ and ‘down’ is relative. In outer space, there’s no clarity of where ‘up’ or ‘down’ lie.
Yet, nowadays, there are some extremely loud people insisting that we consider most concepts and conditions as binary opposites:

If you question the rate or severity of Climate Change, you’re labeled as a Climate Change ‘denier’.
If you show concern about future unknown side effects or the efficacy of the mRNA ‘vaccines’, you’re an ‘anti-vaxxer’.
If you worry about the growing trend of impressionable children identifying as transgender, it’s suggested (by loudmouths) that you want to deny their existence… or even worse ‘hate’ them.
If you want a secure border, you’re either xenophobic or monstrously insensitive to the plight of migrants.

There are sadly too many more to list, but these are enough to give anyone with the capacity for reason pause.
I want to know why we allow these absurd reductive labels to occupy any adult conversation.

I regret having to say this but that intellectually lazy either/or ‘reasoning’ predominantly is coming from folks who claim to be the smartest and most tolerant. {News Flash- If you need to claim you’re smart and/or tolerant, you probably are neither in practice.}

We most likely can agree that words and phrases can have more than one definition. So, why are so many people defaulting to the idea that ALL “arguments” are something so negative that they need to be avoided? Are they ignorant of the courtroom definition of “A line of reasoning.”?
If Americans truly revere the “scientific method” as the ultimate formula for finding facts and approaching Truth, why is there so much effort being directed toward reducing speech and inquiry?
These are points and questions that I hope all well-meaning people will consider. This post consists of questions and hypotheses rather than statements for a reason. I’m offering an argument as “food for thought” and not at all trying to start an argument. 😉





A Nice Man

On By Susan St.PierreIn In my humble opinion...28 Comments
Make America Great Again Embroidered Cap - Red

I met a wonderful older gentleman in the grocery store this morning.
We almost collided at the end of an aisle, where he paused and said, “Go ahead. Ladies before beauty.”. He had a delightful twinkle in his eye as I giggled.
He paused a bit longer saying, ” I said that to one lady and she called me a rascal. It’s fun to tease.”
I agreed that cheerfulness was always welcomed.
Well, I had watched his eyes so I hadn’t actually ‘looked’ at him.
We met again at the checkout. Actually, I chose that particular checkout to chat with him again.
This time I saw he was wearing a MAGA hat and a Trump 2020 mask!
I wasted no time telling him how much I liked his mask and he broke into quite a story.
He had an accent that I was sure was German.
He said, “Our country is being destroyed. “
He’d come here from Europe, had a sponsor, was supposed to have a job, and became a citizen following every legal step.
“I’ve been made a fool with these open borders and illegals given everything.”
Again, I agreed and said a few things about the move toward Marxism and not being allowed to speak without a hateful reaction.
Then he told me about a recent disgrace he’d had at, of all places, church.
Here’s a paraphrase:
“I was at church a few weeks ago and had removed my hat. A lady, who was recovering from a stroke, was having a difficult time getting out to her car. I offered her my arm and helped her. She was very appreciative and said I was such a nice man.
The next week, I met the same lady but this time I had my hat on. She grabbed my arm in a fury and gouged it leaving bruises.”
I don’t know about you, but that kind of unhinged intolerance HAS TO STOP!
As I left, he said, “What we going to do?”
I said, “You keep on wearing that hat, and I’ll keep on wearing my shirt.” I had to lift my sweatshirt to show him my Rush Limbaugh Tribute t-shirt. He smiled saying, “He was a very good man.”.
I told him that I won’t be silenced either and we need to keep speaking up. He agreed.
What a nice man!

(BTW- I tried to grab a photo of a MAGA hat in the free photos offered for blogging. All that came up was women in sunhats. Oddly, that image wasn’t considered a current topic. Keep speaking up people. 😉 )

FOWC with Fandango : Village

On By Susan St.PierreIn Words 'n' such Poetry, Writing Prompts6 Comments

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

Today’s word is “village.”


The King shut down the jester’s voice
And silenced every fool,
He called for NO absurdity
And tightened every rule.

“Imposing ‘proper’ etiquette”
The royal guard professes,
“Tames the voices of dissent,
To flout all ‘social’ messes.”

But, friction makes a pebble smooth,
Complaints inspire plans,
Sparks create a warming fire,
The tide adjusts the sands.

Made safe from all ‘offensive’ words,
And sheltered from dark thought,
You’d think the village happier?
But bored is all they got.

Silence spread across the land,
All colors morphed to gray.
The quiet calm so deafening
Most families moved away.

Humor died and laughter stopped,
Kids refused to game.
Competition wasn’t “nice”
And oneness made it lame.

No doubt a censored tongue is still,
Yet, secrets disguise sin.
Evil in its cleverness
Does best when it blends in.

Truth and lies reversed their roles,
Thieves and snitches proud.
Who could try to solve a crime
When questions weren’t allowed?

That village lives in infamy,
A warning we must preach!
To guard against all tyranny,
Hold tight to your Free Speech.
—————————————-


FOWC with Fandango — Village – This, That, and The Other (fivedotoh.com)









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