on Free Speech

Ah, the first amendment to our United States Constitution; what would we do without it?

This one little amendment has been fought for and against in courts, in Congress, everywhere throughout the U.S., for all of our history.  What are we allowed to say, where, when and how is the subject of many contentious fights.  The amendment itself states very plainly that "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble".  However, it doesn't mention laws made outside of Congress.


This is how we got obscenity laws which certainly do abridge the freedom of speech.  If something is obscene (a very vague and varied definition by the way) then citizens no longer have the right to say it, print it, distribute it, or even own it privately.  Yes, by definition you are not actually allowed to own pornography in your own homes.  This is how officials can break in (with a search warrant, unless it's deemed some kind of terrorism activity) take your computer and search for anything "obscene".  Now regular ol' porn will probably be permitted in most cases, but are you 100% sure every person shown in that pornography is of legal age?  Did you know the legal age varies depending on whether or not that person is engaged in "straight" or "gay" sex?  Yup, varied definition for sure.


What about "sexting"?  Should a high school student be sent to prison for the 'distribution of pornography' after she sent nude photos of herself to her boyfriend, who shared them with his friends?  A few years ago a woman was arrested for child pornography because she took photos of her baby in the bath tub and (rather stupidly) sent them out as a Christmas card.  More recently, this past summer, a major book store chain covered up a magazine because it featured a topless male model; a model that is renowned for having a very feminine face.  Because he looked like a woman, but had exposed MALE breasts, they felt they needed to cover it up "for the sake of the children".  Why is nudity so highly sexualized in America?  A family in Florida recently tried to sue their next door neighbor because the neighbor had two 4ft tall statues of the David which of course has exposed genitals.  The woman exclaimed, "what if my little boy saw that statue?"


People can peaceably assemble, this is our right guaranteed by the Constitution, and Congress can't make a law which prevents this.  However, if the assembly is deemed terrorist in any way then the "peaceably" portion kicks in and the gathering can be quashed, even in private locations.  Also, governments, Federal and Local can make laws stating the people must apply and be approved for a permit to gather in public places, presumably due to security and maintenance concerns.  If someone in the governing body determines they do not approve or like why the people are assembling, they can simply not approve the permit, or revoke it later at their discretion.


I've devoted quite a few blog posts about the power of words.  People certainly have the right to say whatever they want, but they must understand they have to accept the consequences of that freedom.  If someone shouts on a street corner (or Facebook for that matter) the company they work for is terrible, then that company has a right to fire them over it.  Sure, the person had every right to knock their employer, but the employer has a right to protect their image from slander.  If a person stands on a street corner (or again, Facebook) decrying a certain ethnicity, personality trait, etc., it is certainly their right, but what if it incites violence or degradation of the ethnicity, etc.?  This can be considered "hate speech" and can be outlawed. 


The Press is allowed to print whatever it wants.  However, there have been laws enacted which prevent certain claims by advertisers.  There used to be rules regulating how the media could portray the "truth", but those regulations were mostly gutted during the first few years of Bush Jr.  Now we have Fox and many other "news" organizations making up whatever they want to and sometimes running an obscure apology if caught.  Most of the time now, the media doesn't care if it's blatantly lying.  An acquaintance once told me major news
agencies will never get eclipsed by bloggers because no one would know whom to trust in the blogosphere. Do we know who to trust in the major news agencies?  The Egyptian uprising, now part of the so called "Arab Spring" was first reported from the site with hand held phones and broadcast over Facebook and Twitter.  The major news agencies were at least 8 hours behind.  Where will our news come from in the future, and will it be trustworthy?