Freedom. That’s what I’m talking about.

You know, the kind of thing that Mel Gibson shouted about in the 1995 movie, “Braveheart.” The kind of freedom that appears on T-shirts showing a soldier with an assault rifle strapped to his chest, wearing an archaic Continental Army uniform.

Freedom — the kind people shout about — is usually the freedom some people want so that they can do whatever they please without anyone objecting. Trouble is, those same kinds of freedom-lovers often want to restrict others in their desire to do whatever they want to do, also without objection.

If you want to be free to do practically anything you want to, you have to extend the same to everyone else.

And there’s the rub.

If you’re the kind of person who believes freedom means only you should be free to do and say what you want, and others should not, then you haven’t been paying attention.

This nation was founded out of a system where the government set out what you could say or publish, where you had to go to church, and who could and could not be part of the military. We Americans have long accepted the notion that we live in a society that allows freedom of thought and expression.

Not anymore. The freedom which so-called pointy-headed academics call “academic freedom” is under serious attack.

Academic freedom — the notion that ideas must be freely expressed, or the discovery of knowledge will be stymied — dates back to the 16th century. It’s a freedom that has been attacked by everyone from Hitler to Stalin to religious leaders. Academics in China are encouraged to teach “correct” ideas. That’s fine for those pesky Reds, but what does that have to do with us? Plenty.

In Florida, the governor proposed and his Legislature passed a law to prevent the presentation of ideas that would show that some races have been enslaved and discriminated against, and that from the 16th century to the 19th century, the people who bought and resold Africans were white Europeans and, later, Americans.

If you think I’m taking sides, I would point out that for many people, any depiction of the Confederate States of America that fails to show bloodthirsty racists bent on murdering black people is — pardon the expression — a whitewash.

The past informs the present and foretells the future.

Ideas, history and science all demand constant rethinking. If that were not so, we’d still be governing by divine right and using leeches to heal sick people.

The freedom to think and express ideas is a basic tenet of our government. The idea that ideas are to be outlawed is, or should be, terrifying.

Should the government forbid teachers from setting out how white people enslaved black people? Should we forget that my great-grandmother was not allowed to vote because she was a woman? Do you think that it’s fair to talk about how, years ago, black men who were members of the U.S. Navy were forbidden to serve as anything but “mess boys” whose job it was to wait on officers?

Should we forbid the showing of the well-respected Ken Burns documentary, “The Civil War,” in which historian Shelby Foote tells the story of the Northern soldier asking the starving Southern soldier why he kept fighting? The Confederate soldier didn’t say, “Because I hate black people.” He said, “Because you are here.” Can we not accept that the Southerner believed he was defending his homeland?

So, who gets to decide what you can think? The government? If that’s what you want, then you’re no patriot. If you can convince yourself that your values are the only ones with any merit, and you are willing to oppress anyone who has a different or offensive idea, then you’ll have more in common with Adolf Hitler than any of the Founding Fathers.

A real patriot embraces the fact that allowing ideas that are downright disagreeable is what marks us as a free society.

That’s enshrined in a part of our Constitution that has yet to be watered down by the current Supreme Court. You have a constitutional right to express ideas that are offensive to others.

Yes, there are people who claim that “political correctness” and “wokeness” make it impossible to express any idea that offends anyone. But that’s nonsense. You can say anything you want to, provided it doesn’t provoke a riot or defame someone.

If you don’t like the idea of “gender questioning,” taking down Confederate monuments, praying in school, or telling teachers their lessons must be “politically correct” or that they can’t make little Timmy feel bad by teaching him the history of slavery, then remember that ideas — especially ideas you don’t like — are the vital, breathing and living thing that is our democracy.

In the name of freedom, we must keep that thing alive.

Frances Coleman is a former editorial page editor of the Mobile Press-Register. Email her at [email protected] and “like” her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/prfrances.