Historically, the will to embrace free expression has gone hand in hand with progressive politics.

When I was growing up, public figures who tested the boundaries of indecency and free speech were invariably counter-culture heroes. Throughout recorded time, humor, art, music and literature were understood to be inherently uplifting and liberating, because they were True expressions of human freedom and creativity.

And any idea or action considered ‘forbidden’ was probably even more true.

If you were considered over-sexualized, somehow profane, offensive, blasphemous, critical of the government – or a negro – you had the automatic approval of progressive, politically astute people the world over.

Art and ideas of free expression span a huge spectrum, and human creativity serves many different roles. While some works aim to uplift and liberate the mind, history has shown that creative expression designed to provoke or challenge moral codes can expose hypocrisy, or confront societal taboos.

Instead of being purely uplifting, transgressive expressions often force societies to re-evaluate their values. Public figures who push these boundaries historically have acted as catalysts for major cultural shifts, though they are frequently met with censorship or public condemnation.

From the moment those fateful shots rang out in Dallas back in ’63, the NEOCON’S culture wars have pitted waves of America’s disillusioned young people against warmongers and hucksters like Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Phyllis Schlafly, Billy Graham, William F. Buckley and Anita Bryant – who all pledged allegiance to an America that never existed.

Those culturally regressive elements became wedded to a ‘Leave It to Beaver’ vision of America, where there was no institutionalized racism, no misogyny, no prejudice against gays or lesbians and no corporate or military excesses or government corruption to worry about.

They believed America was the greatest nation that ever existed. We were a proud, white, Christian nation with a manifest destiny to govern the globe with an iron fist. Because we simply knew better.

We were exceptional.

These were all obvious lies, and [smart] young people back in my day could see right through them. We were disgusted by the way the war mongers spent so much time and energy talking in circles around the obvious Truths behind our militaristic, profoundly unequal and morally bankrupt society. The Vietnam War exposed the brutal reality to the average American.

So young people rebelled and instead of wicked old men, they turned to musicians and activists and actors and poets who proudly flaunted their sexuality; comedians who explored the most taboo of subjects; artists and photographers who captured reality as it really was, and authors who wrote in the raw, unvarnished language that people actually used in real life.

Sadly, that spirit is non-existent today. Social media killed it.

The latest salvo in the Culture Wars is ‘WOKE-ness.’ But America’s new free speech champions aren’t Allen Ginsberg, Mario Savio or Richard Farina-style intellectuals preaching peace and love.

No, they are future Tech Gurus, CEOs, hedge-fund managers and social media influencers: drunken frat boys like Charlie Kirk crawling over their own puke to scribble hateful slogans on campus walls…

America has devolved into a generation of extremely thin-skinned people who are obviously scared shitless of progressive ideas and women and immigrants – and the outside world in general. They are deeply offended by anything that they perceive might hurt someone’s feelings.

But invariably, the only folks whose feelings matter are White Christians.

The triumph of ignorance over knowledge is now complete.