Seriously, my grandpa is “very MAGA”, as he calls himself, a “radconservative” or something. He is very open about his views on people being able to freely speak their minds without censorship, yet he gets REALLY mad when I say the following:
Swear words (even “hell”, “crap”, or “damn”)
Epstein Files should be released
Trump being on the Files apparently more times than God’s name appears in the book about Himself: the Bible.
Even mentioning the word “gay” or saying something about a gay couple
Trans people
Seriously, I have cousins who are grown adults, maybe mid-20s who would absolutely FREAK if I said the word “trans”. They will actually panic and say “Oh, um, maybe let’s not talk about that…” and then nervously laugh like it’s a super taboo subject.
This is NOT the 1950s.
People will say that conservatives are just stupid, but I believe it’s not that simple.
We use words not only to transfer the meaning or knowledge, but also in-group belonging, hopes and fears, a myriad of various stuff.
When your grandpa says that he loves free speech, it may mean that he associates himself with the group which also associates itself with this slogan. It may also mean that they are afraid of losing their ‘right’ to call queer folks degenerates, as if this ‘right’ were part of his identity or the in-group identity.
The most cruel thing you can do, is to devour the meaning from the slogan – support it and claim your trans friends are very much keen on fighting for the freedom of speech. Don’t do it if you love your grandpa. Keep arguing with him, keep pushing the fact that he’s not that for the freedom of speech if you really care about him.
Also liberals let alone lefties are not free from such in-group symbolism: today it’s about eating the rich, a few years ago it was about defunding the police.