Palm Beach Post

In two prophetic books, Animal Farm: A Fairy Storyand 1984,the British essayist George Orwell depicted a future world in which the state would exercise complete control over all facets of social life.

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four," Orwell wrote. "If that is granted, all else follows.

Sadly, Orwell's depiction of state-controlled life is being ignored and challenged today by the "cancel culture"cult. Nonviolent free speech, our First Amendment right in our Constitution, is being attacked vitriolically and is tearing our nation apart. People are being fired from their jobs, expelled from schools, blacklisted, abused verbally and even harmed physically by simply declaring, for example, "All lives matter."

A surge of selective censorship has been directed at conservative ideas especially if those ideas are not consistent with the narrative of the political elitists and advocates of political correctness.

Freedom of speech is one of the powers of freedom of the will. It is the right to speak and think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. It is the polar opposite of political correctness, which is used as a weapon of fear and is a threat to our nation's survival.

My past and present stance on mob violence of any kind has been to confront it without prejudice. Wrong is wrong no matter who you are, what color you are, what religion you are, or what your politics are. Sadly, the hypocrisy is in plain sight today when individuals react vigorously but selectively to criminal behavior that fits their own interests and agendas.

Well-meaning citizens or large segments of our population who protest peacefully or vote differently cannot be branded as pariahs just because the majority in government power want to maintain Orwellian control as Big Brother.

Our nation was built on compromise and a free exchange of ideas. If we abandon these two tenets, our future is doomed. If we disrespect our First Amendment, knowing full well that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, then perhaps we should recall the words of the providential biblical figure who said as his life ebbed away beneath a crown of thorns, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!

We must embrace the gift of free will granted to us by Providence, and stand up and resist political correctness in every form. If not, we may be forced to accept that 2+2=5.

DR. DAVID TUCKER, PALM BEACH GARDENS

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Point of View: 'Cancel culture' is tearing the nation apart - Palm Beach Post