Donald Trump announced a few days ago that he would prevent Muslims from entering the country, which generated worldwide condemnation. Shortly afterward the Pentagon released a statement saying his words created a security threat because ISIS could use this to prove their point — America is against Islam — and recruit more followers. When I read that, I suddenly had a flashback to around 2006 when the Iraq War was in its sectarian violence phase and people were voicing that we should pull out. How often did we hear from the government that dissenters are emboldening the enemy by showing weakness and division? The Pentagon is pulling the same crap right now, except it's for my side!

I'm sensitive to such rhetoric because of all those years under Bush. That administration was very good at smear campaigns and managing the media, probably because of its background in corporations. They would blunt criticism with ad hominem attacks like being unpatriotic. It incensed me at the time because it completely closes the rational debate we should've been having, like what was our goal in Iraq now we realize there aren't any WMDs and it's going to take longer than the six months Rumsfeld originally planned? Exactly what steps can we take to achieve that goal?

I reached my mental maturity at that time and missed the Democratic era during the 90s under Clinton, so the Republican White House and congress were all I knew. In 2008 power changed hands to the Democrats, and I found people were saying the same shit but for causes I supported. I am pro-choice and I think what protesters do at the entrance of Planned Parenthood is distasteful and sometimes goes beyond protesting, but I don't see the debate in black and white terms. I can understand the mental anguish of killing a fetus. I can see why it is not just about a woman's body but also the rights of the unborn child within. But after the shooting in Planned Parenthood, I see articles about how inflammatory words behind the recent Planned Parenthood shooting are the cause, and we've crossed the same line as back in 2006. Because if that's the case, then I can blame the deaths of Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos on Black Lives Matter because god knows very, very aggressive comments are coming out of the black community right now about police violence.

There's a feeling now to shut down hate speech and that worries me. I think people who say such things are terrible and disgusting, but the moment you start to say, "We should start censoring those," then it becomes a problem. After all the road to hell is paved with good intentions. You have to define what's terrible and disgusting. Are they provocative comments said by pro-life supporters? I can see an official somewhere saying that leads to violence, as proven by the recent Planned Parenthood attacks, and then pro-lifers are silenced. Or on the flipside, should we charge people against the Iraq War because there were genuine threats against Bush during those years for being a "terrorist?" The system we have now is pretty decent: As long as you're not genuinely trying to hurt someone, you're off the hook. You can say whatever you want, even if it's hyperbolic, idiotic, prejudiced, or ignorant. Because we as humans all open to hypocrisy, and the moment power switches hands we're capable of the same tactics we complained about when the other was in control. But if you start putting in laws to quiet dissenters of your beliefs, it becomes very, very dangerous.