Free speech is being everywhere shut down,
so we will never know now who is right
– the heretics or those who’d keep them mute
By force of law and brutal strength of will.
Today a thinking person of renown
Will not be murdered for his thought,
But might be subject to assassination yet
Of character and of his good repute.
We can’t discuss, converse, we can’t refute,
Much better our old habits to forget,
We must self censor, let our tongues be still.
For some beliefs are safe, beyond dispute,
Protected from debate. For it is known
That certain kinds of men may wish to kill
And others may take up the noble fight,
If questions are allowed of their ideas.
And so it is that now we must disown
Our old traditions honed throughout the years.
Yet why restrict a contest free and fair?
Why give in to bullies and relent?
For ‘tis not falsehood makes men violent,
Or makes them take offence, or claim despair.
The thing that makes these men too much protest,
The thing these people really do detest,
Is truth, spelled out by reasoned argument.
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