How Did Henry Louis Mencken Respond To The Fight For Freedom?

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Henry Louis Mencken was an American journalist and writer from the early 20th century to late mid 20th century. He was known for being a huge critic of American democracy and was more in support for socialism. An example of his thoughts where through his quote of,“the average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.” He found trouble when he wrote about socialists norms during WWII because people were in more opposition to it than ever. This quote was a question that everybody in a free world faced when it came to the next route of development that the country faced. In opposition to Henry Mencken’s argument, people overall tend to give up their own safety for their own freedom. Examples are some movements and actions that are happening in present America such as, LGBT protests, the fight for the second amendment, and the military fighting for freedom. The LGBT community has collectively given up their safety for their freedom to be who they are. …show more content…
Gays and lesbians have been standing up and sometimes even rioting for many years. For example, “The Stonewall riots (also referred to as the Stonewall uprising or the Stonewall rebellion) were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. They are widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.” The riot was one of the most violent riots that the gay community had back then. The put their safety at risk to stand up for their freedom and right to be somewhere or do something that non-gay people could do. The LGBT community believes that equality for all people no matter who you are is important and that people should not be discriminated against because of their sexual preferences. “LGBT are PEOPLE who are not heterosexual. We are all colors, nationalities, religions, political status, ages, and abilities. People are risking their safety to own firearms. People could get shot and killed by people who are bad. But, while knowing this issue and risk, people still want to be free and are still willing to fight for it. The second amendment is an important piece of freedom that was incorporated and labeled as a human right. If people would rather be safe than free, then why are people willing to fight and die for their rights against the government, putting themselves at more risk to stay free? The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads; "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Opposing views argue that the second amendment was only meant for hunting and fighting Indians in the early years of the country, to keep them safe. Or, that the reason for the second amendment even existing is for the people’s safety, so obviously that means that people rather be safe than free...right? The problem is, that people don’t take into consideration that people have the freedom to be safe. If people have the freedom to protect themselves to their certain degree, then they are not giving up their freedom to have someone else protect them. People who have supported the second amendment have increased more and more, up to 52% in the present, when people have stated that they want to take away some of the people's freedom of choosing what they are going to protect themselves with, to keep them safe. The more the peoples’ human rights are infringed with the intentions of keeping them safe, the angrier and more defensive people are about staying free. The military has given up their safety in order to strive for the freedom of the people back home. In the past, US soldiers have been sent to other countries in order to establish freedom and to incorporate a sense of safety back home. As a matter of fact, most instances, the countries they

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