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Silencing Of Voices

In nearly nine years of writing this column, I have given my thoughts on dogs, chocolate chip cookies, Christmastime, baking bread, growing older and the wonders and disappointments of life.

It’s my belief that life happens in the little moments and I like to remind people of that by sharing my own.

Occasionally, I have stepped outside the topic of cookies and Christmas ornaments to comment on the greater world. I’ve chimed in on the precariousness of Lakewood politics, or shared my thoughts about the presidential elections or the uncertainty of life in America.

Those columns were met with a good cross section of reaction. Some people wrote to applaud and agree with my point of view. Others wrote to chide me, or even to say they would never read my column again. Some even wrote to the editor. I accepted the opposing views as a consequence of having a voice here in this little corner and as the sign of the times we live in. But I welcomed the debate, because I believe all voices matter.

There may be many things Americans don’t know because they aren’t being told pertinent information about our country and our world by the sources they turn to for news. What is being left out is imperative to forming an accurate view of events, a well-rounded view of the world.

On January 9th, millions of people, from Trump supporters to conservatives, were perished from social media platforms all in one fell swoop. People from the President of the United States to General Flynn to Rush Limbaugh and commentator Mark Levine were taken off Twitter and Facebook and Instagram. Millions of people-not just a few.

Especially egregious to me was the disappearance of the peaceful Walk Away Campaign on Facebook, where 500,000 people wrote in with their non-violent stories about switching their political party to one more suited to their current point of view. And people from all walks of life wrote stories-people of all sorts of colors and genders and sexual preferences. The hundreds of thousands of stories archived on that site are gone forever, cast out into the same sea of uncertainty that is now our nation.

I tell you, when voices are quelled in such astronomical numbers, it is up to all of us to be concerned, to stand up and speak up. The verbal discourse and debate in American politics has always been imperative to our unity, to our freedom. It’s how we get things done. Our voices are the sweet tune of this nation.

I read of a woman whose grandmother is from the Netherlands and was a child when the Nazis occupied her country. Her grandmother told her the first thing the Nazis did was ban free speech and news they didn’t like. I don’t think I have to remind anyone why our Founding Fathers felt it imperative to put the right to freedom of speech as our very first amendment.

And further, the events at the Capitol on January 6th are not being depicted fairly. A close family friend-an intelligent woman with several degrees and who speaks several langauges fluently-spent the day there. She grew up in a communist country and lives in D.C. as a legal immigrant. She subscribes to neither party. Her reasons for attending were simply to be a part of an event happening in her hometown.

I will not go into the details of her story here. I will venture to say that her recount of the event vastly differs from the media’s depiction and that should matter to you, especially because she has no agenda. And because she is an intelligent woman whose observations should be taken seriously.

You will not hear her story, nor the stories of anyone else who had an entirely different experience at the Capitol that day.

I don’t wish to pick a side in politics here. What I’m hoping to convey is beyond politics. What we are discussing is the fundamentals of freedom-mainly the freedom of expression, the freedom of speech.

As we watch the silencing of millions of people, as websites are dismantled and tossed away, as people are fired for having a differing view, as credit cards and bank accounts of businesses with a conservative bearing are closed, please decide for yourself if this is the America you want.

Or if you will one day miss the America you had.

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