The Supreme Court's Westboro decision illustrates that all Americans pay a hefty price for the privilege of free speech and ought to serve as a rude awakening to the fact that being the target of hate speech is not a pleasant experience. As patriotic Americans, we grieve the loss of fallen soldier, Matthew Snyder, and as decent human beings, we mourn with the Snyder family for the grief they have suffered, but let's not forget that the heart of this matter involves one group of people attempting to demonstrate their hatred for another using our most fundamental of rights – the freedom of speech.
Free speech is a powerful tool. It exhorts individuals to seek the loftiest of quests. It inflames individuals to commit the vilest atrocities. It can build. It can also destroy. It creates fear. It calms. It illuminates the mind with reason. It stabs the heart with hate. Such is the strength of the spoken word.
We are understandably appalled by Westboro's brutal and insensitive message of hate leveled against a family and a nation in the midst of deep personal suffering and tragedy, but everyone who feels embittered by the Westboro decision should take a moment to reflect upon those occasions when they too have engaged in hate speech similar to the kind of bile Westboro peddles. It's not a comfortable assessment to undertake, but honest reflection reveals that Westboro followers have plenty of company, millions in fact.
Just ask any homosexual about an anti-gay marriage rally, or a Hispanic immigrant about our immigration debate, or a black person about the n-word, or an Islam adherent about racial profiling, or a poor person in need of food stamps and a Medicaid card to simply survive, or even a liberal living is a sea of unapologetic conservatism. They know hate when they hear it, and it isn't confined to the outskirts of a funeral procession. It's in their face every day - at work, at school and at play. It's on the TV. It's on the radio and every other place where free speech is exercised. And for most of those individuals, free speech hurts. It hurts because they know that free speech provides a license for people in this country to express their anger and hatred in a way that demeans and disrespects other individuals and causes them pain. Westboro followers are closer than you think. The nearest one may be as close as your mirror.
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