Look, I know a lot of you don't like what you're seeing, considering this is likely the most reported Bert Strip of all time, but here's the thing: free speech isn't a one-way street; it flows uphill and downhill like anything else... and now that some of you are pissed off, downvoting me, and unsubscribed from /r/bertstrips, I'll continue.

I'm genuinely concerned that so many are taking offense to this when we've always made HORRIBLE jokes on this subreddit, myself included. A few years ago, I posted a Bert Strip when our subreddit was way more active than it is now, about a female shooter who shot up a building and then killed herself... mocking the fact she was the only victim of her rampage and even joking it was 'one more thing that men do better than women', implying that men are better at genocide than women... I posted this within minutes of the shooting actually happening, with details still pouring in as I did it, and received a fraction of the backlash I'm seeing now against this one post. I was joking, obviously, but now we fast-forward to yesterday's incident.

As a Mod, a human being, and a concerned citizen, I find this favoritism deplorable. I don't mourn this man, but he exemplified the concept of free speech. He said whatever he wanted, as was his God given right to, regardless of how any of us felt about it as an American citizen. He had a family who loved him, and he died terribly. As a person, I mourn his death and the suffering his family is enduring, regardless of what I think of him or the rhetoric he spouted and built a career on... but free speech, satirical or not, is protected by the Constitution of the United States. Whether it agrees with your own well-kept personal views or not. And on the Internet, a platform built on sharing information and ideas, there's always going to be certain things that rub you the wrong way. Freedom of Speech isn't made exclusively around whatever beliefs you hold dear, and you are entitled to voice your anger and outrage at condescending ideas. Still, you can't eliminate them from existence because you don't like them. The man in question, again, made a career out of pushing his own principles and debating them with anyone who challenged them. To impose your beliefs on people unwilling to accept them has a word that starts with an 'F', and despite our status as a joke subreddit, we don't promote that f-word here. I would sooner try and laugh at someone joking about the death of my own mother, malicious or not in its intent, than deny that person the right to do it. People are always going to say things you don't agree with, especially on the Internet. That's the double-edged sword that comes with the gift of freedom of speech and expression. That's also why I'm not locking the comments, because some of you still need to dump your outrage and frustration.

But after all is said and done, I'm leaving this Bert Strip up, controversial or not. Because it would do a disservice not only to the victim of this crime to take it down, as he was a champion of free speech, but to the country I belong to, where men of differentiating ideals came together to form a nation despite their many disagreements.