Safe Space

I don't often post politically, but this week got the best of me. As a daughter of a father who was in the union, I have very strong opinions. I offered my (unpopular) opinion of the Arizona teacher's strike on social media. Though I am a firm believer of First Amendment rights, and whether you agree or disagree, I will defend your right to believe what you believe. Because that is the way the framers of the Constitution designed it. We are lucky to be living in a place where we can say what we feel without consequence. Or at least that's what I have always been told.

What I found was Arizona's educators were not on board with my First Amendment rights and told me so. The people in charge of Arizona's youth were ugly, combative and apparently skilled in anatomy, as I was told my head needed to be dislodged from some other body part--and that was one of the kinder comments I received. Civility be damned! What I found amazing was the number of folks who could not have a decent conversation about this issue, but took the time to personally attack me instead.

Now, as far as I am concerned, sticks and stones. However, I am hearing stories that are making me cringe. One gentleman I know, who happens to be a business owner, approached someone protesting, saying he thought they were right in spirit, but perhaps they had taken their cause too far. The man had his business name on his car. By the time he got back to work, there had been several Yelp reviews falsely written about his company. His phones and e-mails were clogged with unkind and ugly comments. His employees took harassing calls all day. And, when he got home, there was a death threat taped to his wife's car.

A teacher posted on social media that if any of her students came to school wearing purple (the anti-teacher position, apparently), they were automatically getting an F. The guy who runs the mailbox store a few miles from here told me of a rock through the window of someone's car, because the owner of the car had made public their unpopular opinion too.

The Arizona Department of Real Estate demands my business name is on my social media (including this blog, but then again, let the AZDRE find this blog first). My business name was public. My first name isn't too common, and if one did a bit of digging, they could easily find my home address. It never occurred to me when I commented that the teacher's union thugs would be so vial and I should have to worry about safety. I don't have many social media followers, but others who made more impassioned comments do have more followers. Should they be on alert? My safety and that of my family should never be at risk in this country for sharing a differing opinion. That concerns me.