The First Amendment in the
Bill of Rights declares:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Does the phrase
abridging the freedom of speech include irresponsible speech as well? Consider some examples -
- If you yell FIRE (as it is your right of speech to do) when there is no fire and someone is injured you can face criminal as well as civil penalties;
- If you threaten the life of the President of the USA (as it is your right of speech to do) you might very well get a visit from the Secret Service, maybe even be placed into custody or even jail - just for something spoken or written;
- If you sell something and you say something about your product or service that is not true (as it is your right of speech to do) you might find yourself very open to civil penalties and possibly even criminal penalties;
- If you burn some Korans and make a scene at some Islamic temple yelling how some self-illusioned potentate is worthless scum (as it is your right of speech to do) you might find yourself open to civil penalties or even criminal penalties if any civil rights are thought to have been violated.
There are hundreds (or more?) other scenerios where responsible expression is expected and even required by people in our country. But what about professionals whose livelihood is speech or print?
- What about a news station that exaggerates a story in such a way as to intentionally place our country at risk?
- What about a major magazine company that intentionally publishes an article that isn't even true, knowing it will cause division between a group of people and our country?
- What if lives are lost or put at risk because of irresponsible speech and print professionals?
Individuals that are not even professionals are held to a much higher degree of responsible freedom of speech / expression than professionals, and somehow that just isn't right. The good people in this country should demand that such professionals be held no less accountable than we individuals.
3 comments:
Good points pundit! It was also a bit disappointing (yet not surprisingly so) that CBS never apologized to President Bush or the Bush family for spewing on the national airways the fraud they committed. Again, just another example of 0 responsibility.
You have the right to freedom of speech, unless Kevin Mannix catches you putting an elephant on your "Kitty Piercy is not my mayor" bumper sticker.
What about a news station that exaggerates a story in such a way as to intentionally place our country at risk?
What about a news station that carries verbatim the Bush Administration's continued exaggerations that place our country at risk?
What about a major magazine company that intentionally publishes an article that isn't even true, knowing it will cause division between a group of people and our country?
Gosh. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Newsweek article IS true. The allegations made have been documented over the past few months by several news sources. Go to workingforchange.com to get the scoop.
The good people in this country should demand that such professionals be held no less accountable than we individuals.
Finally, something you & I actually agree on. So how DO we make the president more accountable?
Post a Comment