Platform Everyone Poem by David Welch

It seems a day cannot go by
without some fit of pique
over a person who spoke out,
who used his right to speak
to say something that other folks
do not want to be heard,
and instead of not listening
they try to censor his words.
They cry out loud: ‘That's hateful, '
No matter what you say,
they'll declare almost anything
to make you go away.
Free speech is not a thing to them,
expression matters not,
power means more than principle,
they've all succumbed to that rot.
But just because they are too weak
to deal with difference,
does not mean we should self-censor
to somehow placate them.

Such people won't be satisfied,
they demonize their own
if they stray a bit out of line,
they'll cost them job or home.
Small bits of power aren't enough,
give them one hit, they'll want more,
show weakness and they'll double down,
you'll always be abhorred.
It's something right out of Orwell,
these socialist witch hunts,
so instead of appeasing them,
I say platform everyone!

The right, the left, the center too,
the up, down, south, and north,
we need to hear all points-of-view,
evaluate their worth.
We need all these ideas to clash,
we need steel to sharpen steel,
so the weak ones will fall away,
in favor of the real.
And we need this churn constantly
to adapt to endless change,
the arguments on what still works
shows where things need to change.

All those who would stop this process
should be called out strongly,
we've all seen ‘one idea' nations,
they just end horribly.
The Soviets and the Fascists,
and Islamist Iran,
the lack of free expression leaves
entire cultures damned.
Those who suppress differing views
and claim it's ‘compassion'
are tyrants with a smiling face,
who would see freedom undone.
I say platform everybody,
give all viewpoints their time,
human beings are able to
judge and make up their minds.
And if you cannot handle it,
if it drives you 'round the bend,
then there's a way to handle that:
Simply choose to not listen.