PerryT

I suppose I will look into that. Any book recommendations.

I would say possessed people are less common and are more often just lazy. When individuals submit to the will of the masses, or a leader, by default have chosen to enter a contract. It doesn't matter whether they are aware of that fact or not. If a law is passed tomorrow, and you believe you must obey, you would be making a choice. The more you acknowledge that you are truly free, and let go of your fear, you see through more and more illusions. You become stronger.

I certainly agree with you there, but I would like to clarify something else as well. One cannot fundamentally give their freedom away. You can create a social contract with defined rules and consequences, but so long as you exist you are inextricably free.

Speaking only for myself, I would say free speech is an extension of free will as a divine right given by God, but that's my belief. I do not believe God gives ultimate authority to any individual to reign over others. If that were the case we would not have the capacity to think and reach our own conclusions.

Who is ordained to objectively determine the extent of free speech unless you believe there are other humans who have such authority? And if that's so, who gives them such authority? Those who cross over from words to actions, now that's a different story.

I don't see why any human should ever get to define the boundaries of free speech for any other! Our voice is our own personal property! Nuff said.

I am not even sure why I am posting this here. It's not really a subject that is popular, but I just need to get this off my back. For the past decade I have been vegan. For me it was partly for my health and also what I considered ethical reasons. I have always known vegans are going to be seen as weirdos and somewhat annoying by mainstream but I was always fine with that. I also accepted that my lifestyle would be rejected by my conservative friends. It wasn't easy to walk the walk for my beliefs, but I found a way to make peace with it. Also it didn't turn out to be quite as unpleasant an experience as I thought initially going in. Most of the time people were baffled by my eccentric diet. Some even laughed at me, but one way or another most outsiders were at the very least accepting. As long as I didn't push it on them they were fine. What I found surprising was, people around me including my conservative friends were kind to me, and even changed a few of their own habits only because they saw the benefits I was getting. I was glad for them not because they were fulfilling my ideal fantasy but because they were enjoying the same positive benefits. But then over the past few years, maybe the last five years, something changed. Veganism became really popular with the mainstream left. I was never a preachy vegan because I believe strongly in self expression rather than group conformity. But over the last 5 years as I can tell veganism has lost something essential. It's been hijacked, and has become associated with an entire dogma. I don't know if Veganism may not be accepted by everyone, and I was totally fine with that. Now I am seeing this diet being pushed as the Utopian diet. The bastards on the left have taken something. They have stolen what was a free enterprise, lone individuals had worked hard to build bridges only to have their efforts co-opted by Marxists. I can't tell you how frustrating that is. I am not sure how many people here would even understand where I am coming from but the closest analogy I can think of is like seeing the thing you cared most about stolen from you piece by piece. It's hard to explain how the message you believed in was exploited. I am not sure why I am even posting this. I guess I just didn't really know why I have become so put-off by veganism these days. So I have decided to walk away from the vegan movement entirely. I want nothing to do with their message anymore, because it's being used to serve evil. I will still continue the diet, but that's about it. And I say to everyone here. Eat what you want. I care about animals but I care more about your freedom. Because if other humans are enslaved as a result of helping animals than I am not being consistent with my beliefs. I hope I am making sense.

There has been push back for a long time, but now I see there really is a major shift. Ordinary people all over the world like me, who just want to be left alone are fed up with PC and endless interference with our freedom. I am just trying to figure out when we started actually becoming uncucked.

What events would you say have led to the right's push back in recent years? Do you think it was feminism, and the endless attacks on men? Was it immigration issues, Obamacare, or something else? I know YouTube has played a major part in the shift, but I wonder what the actual events transpired that people started finally saying enough is enough.