PROTEST IS NOT DIALOGUE…
(without dialogue…there is no freedom of speech… and without freedom of speech…there is no democracy)

A lot of folks misconstrue the concept of “free speech.” Far too many take it to mean that only those whose opinions and views match their own have a right to it. Anything which does not conform to their own views and opinions is therefore not qualified to have that right.

So, whenever events arise which have them facing something they think they won’t care to hear, or like, they oppose it with “protest” to prevent it from being heard or seen. But protest is not dialogue…without dialogue…there is no freedom of speech…and without freedom of speech…there can be no democracy.

The public outcry and vehemence of “protest” in advance of a proposed rally by a group calling itself – Patriot Prayer – (a somewhat oxymoronic name for itself since patriotism doesn’t necessarily require prayer…and vice versa), at a side-pocket venue on Federal property, away from the rest of San Francisco, is a prime example of that.

Thus, we were somewhat confused by the volume of epithet laden rhetoric as violently bigoted and intolerant as what they anticipated to come from those whose planned presence at that rally they so strongly opposed. Which raises an interesting and perhaps philosophical question here: At what point does either extreme advocacy or extreme antipathy become one and the same… extremism?

CENTURION