Freedom Of Vs. Freedom From

A young friend of mine on Facebook announced to people the other day that he is tired of politics and doesn't want to hear about them from anyone anymore.  I can appreciate this sentiment; in a political season, I often get tired of hearing and seeing people parroting what they hear the media say about their candidate, or against the candidate they don't support, without checking the facts.  I don't mind politics though, I just want the facts to be represented properly.  However, this particular friend's solution is to have us post whatever we want but to change our setting on the post to make sure that he doesn't have to see it. 

At first I was amused, but I quickly realized that his point of view is the prevailing point of view in this country today.  Our Constitution was written to allow freedom of speech, it doesn't limit speech to that which the majority finds inoffensive.  This is where we come to the crux of the matter, is it freedom of speech or freedom from speech?  In a country where speech is truly free, all of us will be offended occasionally and we just have to pull up our big girl or big boy pants and deal with it.  But do we have a right to cause others to limit their speech in order to prevent others from being offended?  It is okay to voluntarily do this occasionally, but it is not something that should ever be forced upon you.  Unfortunately though, too many young people experienced a Barney-esque mentality and were taught that other people should never be offended, at least in certain societally protected groups.  Essentially they have been taught over and over again that freedom from speech is more important than freedom of speech.  But if the cornerstone of a building is demolished, can the building stand?

It seems like such a small thing, someone basically saying "censor yourself when you talk with me."  But is it?  Men and women have fought and died for the rights of all of us to speak freely and to be offended occasionally.  It is the blessing and the curse of a free society.  As for me, I would rather be offended occasionally, than to limit such a precious freedom.  That which we give away is gone, it is no longer ours to keep and protect.