An
opinion piece in this past week’s Sunday New York Times, written by a
staff writer for The New Yorker with an upcoming book, Anti
Social: Online Extremists,
Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation,
called for us to question free speech.
The headline provocatively said:
Free Speech is Killing Us.
I’m afraid the author’s well-intentioned piece poses the greatest danger
to the America I love.
Though the writer is not saying the government should directly infringe on the
First Amendment rights of all citizens, but he calls for things that could be
done to educate and inspire others. For
instance, he says Congress could fund a news literacy campaign or invest
heavily in libraries or build up PBS to be a more robust version of the BBC. He
also said, unwisely, that the government can fund a rival to Google and
Facebook. Lastly, he wants to see
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act tinkered with. This rule absolves You Tube, Twitter, FB and
the like from any liability as to what their members post and share on their sites.
The
First Amendment has exceptions already for libel and defamation, incitement of
violence, and child pornography bans.
Further, people seek and act and speak respectfully and not recklessly
or threateningly, but some push the limits, act out of fear, anger, or
desperation, or speak with ignorance, malice or profit as their motivator.
Free
speech is under fire. It always has
been, always will be. Free speech simply
cannot be compromised. It must be
understood, promoted, and dealt with appropriately. We don’t want to see public bullying, the
spreading of lies, or the use of our info superhighway to recruit militants,
racists, and criminals. But we don’t want
to start bending values, breaking rules, or violating the laws simply because
some people do not behave well.
Free
speech gets controlled by many forces.
Think about it. Companies,
private schools, and foreign governments can ignore free speech laws. The First Amendment narrowly focuses on
things like how you can yell out the president sucks without fear of arrest or
government retribution. But your
employer can curtail what you say in the office, to clients, or even on your
personal social media if it discusses the company. Schools can censor student newspapers and
colleges ban speakers all of the time.
Heck, in one’s own home, a strict parent can tell a child which speech
and language is tolerated – and which isn’t.
Words
have power. They can lead to love or
hate, friendship or violence, growth or destruction. Words reflect people, ideas, values,
experiences, and emotions. If we can’t
respect each other while tolerating challenges to our way of life, we could
fall into anarchy. But free speech must
be our nation’s foundation and building block – not it’s wrecking ball.
“You can’t change the past. But you can ruin the present by worrying about the future.”
--The Decision Book
“Experience is the name everything gives to his mistakes.”
--Oscar Wilde
“Our origins are our future.”
--Martin Heidegger
“Any fool can criticize. And most fools do.”
--Benjamin Franklin
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