When I was little, my grandparents taught me to question. It started with just minor things, but I have grown to question almost everything. More than anything I have found that there is one important purpose to my questioning: it provokes discussion. We together as a human race, or maybe just as America must discuss. In other nations there is no right to dissent, or if there is a right, it is not well observed. Words are action in this nation and around the world. We came to be from words like “We the People” and continued on “Four score and seven years ago” and “I have a dream”. It is these words that moved millions of people and changed things.
Words are a dangerous thing though when in the hands of the wrong people. The rhetoric of Adolph Hitler was one of the main things that helped lead Nazi Germany into WWII and the Holocaust as he followed the example of Italian Benito Mussolini in his use of rhetoric.
All sizes together dissent, we must always remember that being part of a minority opinion doesn’t mean we shouldn’t speak. The opinion of a minority or even someone in the majority with a slightly different idea can significantly change things. Sometimes, I wish the preamble to the Constitution said something like,”We the people of the United States of America shall not stand idly by,” in a form similar to what is found in the Torah. When things get rough, we must always protect each other and that is why dissent is important.
Remember your first amendment rights, because otherwise, you may be silent to a lot of the world.
Ross