Letter: About the home with revolving messages on a local busy street

Ormond Beach Observer
Opinion

Free speech demands responsibility

Dear Editor:

"Free speech” isn’t really free and yet it doesn’t cost money. “Free speech”, instead, requires things of those who demand it. Things like responsibility and consideration; reverence and courtesy. And this goes for all forms of “free speech”— behavior, the spoken word, and the written word. Sadly or, dare I say, dangerously, there seems to be a real lack of these behaviors whenever there is a demand for “free speech."

I regularly drive past a sign in front of a home on a very busy street with revolving messages that are disgusting. They are political in nature and they are becoming more and more offensive. They are racist, disrespectful and even incendiary. Why is this necessary? There must be a way to disagree on topics and then discuss them in an effort to understand the other side. By publicly spouting derogatory names and comments, we are not just asking for trouble but causing it.

“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” used to be a common courtesy. Wouldn’t it be nice to try that approach again? Maybe it would lower the temperature just a little and we could live here in paradise a little more peacefully.

Donna Craig

Ormond Beach

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