We live in a world where people supposedly have freedom of speech. Everyone can now express their opinion without fear of being not understood or rejected. Or at least that’s what they tell us.

But in reality, can we claim, that we actually have freedom of speech? I highly doubt that. I mean, the minorities, who were repressed for years or even centuries now do have that privilege, maybe even more than the majorities do. They can easily stand up and say whatever they believe in, and if someone dares to object, he will be called racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic etc.

Recently I stumbled upon a video, where the interviewer was asking random people how many genders there are. Lots of people confidently claimed that there are as many genders as we want. But the ones, who believed that there are only two genders, had to whisper their answer and quickly run away in order not to get cancelled in internet. So, is this what we call a freedom of speech? Because it doesn’t seem so.

If someone wants to believe that there are more than two genders, that’s fine by me, it’s their mentality and their subjective truth, and I can respect their opinion. But shouldn’t we also respect those “conservative” people, who think that there are only two biological genders? I’m not talking about those, who insult others or even physically abuse them, I’m talking about normal people who just want to express their own opinion without being afraid.

And it doesn’t only concern this topic, it’s about everything. Someone gets cancelled for saying that eating meat is beneficial. Others are being criticized for saying that those who eat meat are murderers. One believes that the purpose of every person (especially woman) is to have kids, the other chooses the childfree life. Someone believes that love is love no matter what, the other considers homosexuality wrong.

There can be as many opinions as there are people in this world, and that’s okay. We can’t force someone to change their mind. Maybe they’ll act like it, but deep down they’ll disagree with the rest, which will only create more anger and hatred for having to be silenced. I always said, that every person can do whatever they want unless it hurts other people. So, if someone is simply expressing their opinion without forcing it or insulting those who have the opposite point of view, why shouldn’t they be able to do so?

Because otherwise we’re just playing hypocrisy, acting like we support the freedom of speech, while in reality we don’t. If we want to live in a tolerant, democratic and free world, we must admit that there are millions of people who can disagree with us. We can’t fight against that, we must learn to be able to express our opinions without criticizing other people’s choices. For example, I can hypothetically say that I don’t like it when people cover their whole bodies with huge and colorful tattoos. But if I meet such a person, I won’t tease or offend them, or try to persuade them to get rid of their tattoos. I’ll accept that person’s decision and will treat him with respect.

I understand why we have reached this point where we’re afraid to talk. Because years ago there was a huge discrimination against anyone who was even a little different from “normal and accepted standards”. People who stood out used to be abused both physically and mentally. And I’m glad that now we’re slowly getting rid of that poor judgment. But we should also learn that there’s a huge difference between insulting or hurting someone and simply expressing an opinion. The first case is truly unacceptable, while the second one is called respecting each other’s points of view, and maybe even learning something new and beneficial from one another. Only in this case we can confidently say that we live in a world with freedom of speech.