Why You Should Care About Free Speech – Silenced Movie Review

Silenced: Our War on Free Speech is the brand new movie directed by Loren Feldman and produced by Mike Cernovich. Silenced was filmed and produced after a successful Kickstarter campaign raised over $80,000.

Free speech has been a hot topic in 2016 as millions of UK voters decided to leave the European Union (now known as ‘Brexit’).

More recently Donald Trump was elected as US President based, in part, on a campaign that openly shunned the conventions of modern political correctness.

As one of the many Silenced Kickstarter backers, I was privileged to be sent an early release copy of the finished movie. Here’s my review:

Silenced – Our War on Free Speech: A Human Story

The format of the film is simple. Over 50 people from all walks of life were interviewed on their understanding and value of the concept of free speech.

This is edited around footage that shows the journey the filmmakers went on as well as some secnesfrom a free speech demonstration.

The simple format works well. Well known faces include Dilbert Cartoonist and author Scott Adams, Dave Rubin (The Rubin Report) and James Altucher (Choose Yourself).

Fans of Mike Cernovich (author of Gorilla Mindset)  will quickly realise that he doesn’t feature heavily in the film. Instead he allows the cast to tell their stories uninterrupted, appearing briefly at the end to share his thoughts.

Loren Feldman, who also edited the movie, is no stranger to controversial topics. Recently he racked up thousands of views to his satirical YouTube videos featuring puppets of key figures in the 2016 US Presidential Election.

The movie is divided into subject matters including.

• Science
• Education and Colleges
• Comedy
• Religion
• Politics

Representatives from each of these spheres are then invited to share their thoughts and wisdom on free speech and why they think it is being stifled.

The interviews come across as genuine and heartfelt with the interviewees clearly being at ease with the film crew. The movie provides enough interest for me to want to go back for a further viewing.

Watch a short trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo8QuVP8Dko

Silenced: Why Free Speech Matters to Dads

Why would I be writing about free speech on a blog for Dads? It’s a little off topic for a website that focuses on the main pillars of modern fatherhood including

• The physical body
• Mental and spiritual health
• Personal and professional success
• Raising resilient girls and boys

However if you read one of my recent posts I spoke of how, as fathers, we are the Guardians of the future.

That status as custodians gives us a responsibility to protect and uphold the freedoms that we enjoy.

One theme throughout Silenced is that free speech must be unequivocal. It cannot be ‘Free Speech, but…’

Free speech is ‘all-or-nothing’. Otherwise it cannot be truly free.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t have a moral responsibility to be wise with our words. And our ideas are always open to criticism and rejection. But censorship without accountability is tyranny.

And tyranny is something that we should all be fighting against – whatever our political or ideological persuasion. Tyranny can come abruptly, but imagine if the tyrants of our time shackled us slowly.

How could that be? Surely we’d notice?

Or would we?

Imagine a frog in hot water: If you drop a frog into boiling pot, he will jump straight out. But put him in a cold pan over a heat and he will swim happily around as the water gradually increases in temperature eventually cooking him alive.

Free Speech and Critical Thought in the Age of Information Overload

What is the most important gift we can give to our sons and daughters? Money? Education?

These are important, but there is something they will need more that we ever did growing up: The power of critical thought.

As a boy, I spent hours at my local library. The books were my haven. The printed word had authority.

The same was true for my father’s ancient encyclopedia that I would pour over after school. Knowledge acquisition was a simple process.

The Internet age changed all this. Now we are bombarded with suspect reports from fake news media, micro blogs and ‘iterative’ journalism. The only way to carve through this is by critical thinking. By having the skills to assess what’s truth and what’s fake.

Some would call this thinking ‘Red Pill’ when you refuse to accept the version of events you are being sold and seek the truth for yourselves. Teaching your kids how to do this is time well spent.

For them to be able to sift out what is truthful and reasonable is a gift that will keep on giving right into their adult years.

Conclusions

What does any of this have to do with Silenced and free speech in general?

One of the striking opinions in the film is how colleges and universities – once havens of free thought and speech – have become the opposite. Now they are seen by many as the worst offenders in silencing ‘wrong think’ and ‘problematic opinions’.

As a result students leave colleges unable to discern between fact and fiction. Myth and reality.

Would it shock you to know that the media write news stories with the purpose of deceiving you and the people you love? The inability to realise and stand against this affects our freedom and free speech.

Our children must be equipped to know when their basic freedoms are being taken from them and when to stand up and fight for what they believe to be true.

This movie has value because it brings these issues to the forefront of our minds. Let us start a new conversation and refuse to be silenced by each other.

Silenced is due to be released in theatres and DVD later on this year.

Neil

P.S. My emails aren’t very controversial. But they are good to read and highlight my best posts. Sign up here.