Freedom of speech is one of our most beloved rights as citizens of the United States.

We the people express ourselves freely through social media, YouTube videos and memes.
Our founding fathers would be so proud.

But there is a line drawn in the metaphorical sand when it comes to just how much freedom we have when speaking.

The first amendment does indeed say that our freedom of speech is protected, but it also protects the freedom of religion, press, petition and peaceful assembly.

In short, we are allowed to believe in different ideas, tweet passionately about the latest season finale, petition for the weekend to begin on Thursday and assemble peacefully in the name of dance-offs.

There is nothing wrong with expressing your thoughts and ideas openly to whomever wants to listen to you.

But when the right to free speech justifies hurtful words, it is not the intended use.

For a simple example consider Perez Hilton. The blogger makes a career of “exercising” his first amendment privilege, but when you break it down the man is nothing more than cruel.

In a more extreme case, Westboro Baptist Church.

But the majority of people dislike what Westboro practices, right? Of course.

The organization is so loud in its crusade against the sins of this country that it is hard to ignore how terrible they come across.

But there are a lot of other people out there who will brush off speaking hate by amending that it is only their opinion.

Opinions don’t excuse ignorance. Opinions don’t excuse baseless hate.

We need to understand that there are more important things than the basic, “I can say what I want because the first amendment says so.”

Nah. You can say what you want if it adds something meaningful. Don’t you remember your mother teaching you not to speak if you have nothing nice to say?

The first amendment was written in an effort to protect the rights of all who would come to live here.

Which means that your opinion is not acceptable if it is ridiculously hateful for no reason.

I’m sure the revolutionaries did not foresee the rise of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I’m pretty sure no one could have called that one, but they were pretty smart guys.

They understood that people will think what they will, and no one can totally control someone else to see things their way.

Which leads to the big secret behind getting rid of all that drama that surrounds freedom of speech.
Be nice.

That’s it, that’s the magic, kids.

Just be nice to one another. If someone thinks differently than you it’s easy enough to say alright and go about your business. Voila.

Someone disagrees with your religion? Alright bruh, you do you.

Someone disagrees with your eating lifestyle? Abrakadabra, you can still be friends.

It’s not that difficult to accept that someone will differ from your beliefs.

We are not the same, none of us agree unanimously on all subjects. But it is easy enough to accept that and move on.

Why waste time arguing and insulting each other when we can make everything so much easier by dropping it, respecting each other and gently talking about something we agree on?