I reveal my secret for overcoming ignorance.

A July 20, 2023 headline captures my attention: Dem Stacey Plaskett Defends Censorship: ‘Free Speech Is Not an Absolute.’ Stacey Plaskett’s ignorance of the First Amendment to our U.S. Constitution reminds me of Congressman Hank Johnson, who expressed his fear “that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize,” if U.S. Marines were added to the small island.

I have no intention of shame for either the Honorable Hank Johnson or the Honorable Stacey Plaskett. As per Romans 13:7, I honor these two members of Congress for their courage and their desire to represent their constituents. To become an elected officeholder at any level of government is an emotional challenge, especially for the candidates who lose.

I, like you, have repeated something spoken or written that was not factual. Proverbs 18:17 says, “He who is first in his own cause seems just, but his neighbor comes and searches him.” My paraphrase of this proverb is, “Every story sounds true until you hear the other side.”

My blogging career began back in the 2000s. Quickly, I learned to “trust but verify” what I read and what was said by others. There is a simple method to avoid public humiliation. Ignorance of the facts opens the door to criticism and humiliation. Proverbs 17:28 teaches, “Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise; and he who shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”

My secret for overcoming ignorance is revealed in Proverbs 25:2. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.” In short, ask questions. Research credible documents. Verify quotations. In the information age, vast resources of verifiable information are at our fingertips.

My other ‘secret’ is to always hire and/or appoint people smarter than me.

Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett could have avoided the embarrassment of misstating the First Amendment by going to the archives of the federal government. The full text of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Words have meaning. “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.” The verb to abridge means, to shorten the length of; to reduce or lessen in duration, scope, authority, etc.; diminish.

Freedom of speech is an absolute, irrevocable, unlimited, un-cancelable civil right (the personal rights of the individual citizen, in most countries upheld by law, as in the U.S.) of all Americans, protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Founding Father Benjamin Franklin wisely said, “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”

Ignorance is a choice. Knowledge is power.

John White
Rockwall, Texas