Free Speech

First on an unrelated note, I'm going to stop posting every wednesday. Summer laziness has gotten to me and I'm not surrounded by intellectually stimulating material as I am at school. Not saying that I won't be posting at all, but expect that there will be longer time gaps between them. Ill probably be resuming a weekly schedule once second year starts. Also, as a teaser, I'm working on a certain subject in greater depth and I hope to get it published as a book one day. Working very slowly, but working nonetheless.

Onto the actual topic, which I'm pretty pissed off about. The first amendment states that "Congress shall make no law...prohibiting the free exercise... or abridging the freedom of speech". Note that it doesn't say "except when people don't like what you're saying". Specific examples of why i'm pissed include movie ratings, internet site blockers, obscenity laws, and getting arrested for "disorderly conduct". I'm sure there are others that'll piss me off but these are the examples I have off of the top of my head.

Lets start with movie ratings. As I see it, a non-governmental organization gets to determine who is allowed to see what movies in terms of age by law. This is a huge violation of the freedom of speech. I'm fine with movies being rated on certain criteria, and with the public being well informed on what those ratings mean, but under no circumstances should they be used to bar certain individuals from viewing movies. I see it as such a flagrant violation that I'm not even sure how to discuss it in further depth.

Internet site blockers, ESPECIALLY in public schools. When young minds are being educated they are very malleable. It is therefore essential that they be allowed to access the internet in it's entirety. Maybe kids will waste more time on facebook, but I see the free exercise of speech via the internet as a much more important thing.

Obscenity laws. First, the Miller Test is bullshit. Wiki it if you don't know what I'm talking about. The first amendment doesn't say "..or abridging the freedom of speech unless it's obscenity". Obscenity is not some subcategory of speech that isn't protected. EVERYTHING is protected. We protect racist speech, homophobic speech, sexist speech, and obscene speech because that's what the first amendment is for! There's no interpreting the amendment to except obscenity from it's protection. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH. As i said im kinda pissed about this so please excuse the rant-ish tone.

Disorderly conduct could fall under the previous paragraph. I'm remembering a specific incident on the TV show Campus PD where some college kid gets arrested for cursing at a cop. Before the arrest, the cop explicitly warned the kid with something like "one more curse and I'll have you for disorderly conduct". He is speaking. It is free. If the kid had been smart enough to get a lawyer from the ACLU he would have ripped the cop a new one, especially with the whole incident being captured on high quality film (not some handheld crap).

The first amendment is perhaps the most precious one we have. In the text there are no exceptions to the freedom of speech. All is speech and all is free. Including speech that society doesn't like. Including politically dissenting speech. Including threats, even very specific threats. It might warrant extra police protection, but you can't be penalized for any of it.

Justice William J Brennan Jr. once said "if there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable".

Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote "If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch."

Author Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

All speech is free. No exceptions.