You’re never too old to heed the wisdom of your parents. Think back—at some point, you were told to be kind, to respect others, and maybe even that if you couldn’t say something nice, it was better to say nothing at all.
These lessons weren’t meant just for childhood; they were lessons for life. Today, we have more platforms than ever to express our thoughts and emotions—so many, in fact, that accountability for our words often feels like an afterthought. And maybe that’s how it should be. After all, freedom of speech is a cornerstone of our democracy.
But that freedom comes with responsibility, making it more important than ever to embrace the self-restraint our parents worked so hard to instill in us. They taught those values out of love—not just for us, but for the broader society we share. That doesn’t mean we have to tiptoe around every word in fear of offending someone.
“I’m not a fan of the pressure to be politically correct in every instance.” Conversation should be honest, candid, and sometimes uncomfortable. Criticism and disagreement aren’t the same as hate speech, and we shouldn’t equate the two.
In fact, admonishing someone simply for not being politically correct misses the point entirely. True harm comes not from blunt honesty or differing opinions, but from words crafted with the intent to divide, dehumanize, or incite violence.
We are constantly exposed to vitriolic rhetoric designed not just to stir emotions but to desensitize us to outright hate speech. And there are those—bad actors with ulterior motives—who manipulate our precious freedoms to sow division among us. Worse still, some people on the fringes of stability may interpret that charged language as justification for real-world harm.
Evil does exist, and as a nation, we know too well that threats from outside are real. But the last thing we need is to turn against ourselves. So, if you’re wondering how to counter the negativity that seems to permeate our discourse, the answer is simple: “mind your mother.”