Your First Amendment Rights

 

This is the First Amendment in the United States Constitution. I assume most of you already know this, but if you're from a country other than the U.S.A maybe you don't know.

What it means is this: With regards to religion, you have the right to practice or not practice whatever the hell you want without the Government cramming a specific theology down your throat. You also have the freedom to say whatever you want and may do so at any time even if a cop is informing you of your right to remain silent. Media like newspapers, tv, magazines and books are allowed to express opinions and distribute information unhindered by the Government whether They like it or not. If you feel a cause coming on, you may join a nonviolent protest in private or in public, and you may hold the Government accountable for wrongdoing because it is supposed to work for the People by the People and not for itself. This Amendment has long been interpreted as "the freedom of expression" because it quite literally gives us the right to express ourselves without fear of repercussions from the Government. 

I usually try not to bring politics or current events into my blog because given the choice, I’d rather not offend anyone. But I’m frustrated by the ongoing problems in this country I love and realize though I'd rather not offend you, you may not be worried about offending me.

It's important to understand the difference between censorship and consequence. Take Jimmy Kimmel for example. Jimmy Kimmel is essentially an employee... and if he was contractually obligated to behave and speak a certain way and violated the terms of his employment then ABC had every right to kick him to the curb. That's not censorship, that's consequence. BUT. If the FCC was pressuring ABC to fire Kimmell by threatening to revoke their broadcast license, then that is a violation of free speech by coercion which does make it censorship. I would also add, that rather than cave to intimidation, what ABC really needed to solve the problem was a pair of testicles. But I digress.

I know that another critic of Trump's, Stephen Colbert, also recently had his show announce its cancelation by Paramount, which was done under sketchy conditions and could be censorship depending on whether or not you believe the show was canceled for financial reasons (unlikely given that Colbert just won an Emmy so he must have been doing something right), or was it canceled because of political pressure from Trump's friends, the owner of Skydance David Ellison and the chairman of the FCC Brendan Carr. One of these is censorship, the other is not.

I've also seen a video clip of President Trump saying shortly after Kimmel's cancelation, that he'd like to pull the broadcast licenses of every network that isn't nice enough to him. That would absolutely be censorship. I know that Trump has never hidden the fact that he'd like to silence those who make him look bad and that is censorship. I know that when he had the Armed Forces purge DEI from its websites, programs, and libraries, that was censorship...Are you seriously going to tell me that the men and women who serve are responsible and mature enough to die for this country but not able to decide for themselves their own reading material?

I'm writing this post because I'm not into cancel culture, this idea that anyone who disagrees with you should be silenced. I don't like that a FOX host said that homeless people should be executed but I reserve the right to not watch FOX news. I'm not into censorship; people should be allowed to express information, opinions and ideas freely. I don't like what Charlie Kirk was saying, but he had a right to say it, and he should not have been killed for it.

Defense Secretary Hegseth has been reported by NPR to be working on a pledge that journalists will have to sign agreeing not to research the stories coming out of the Pentagon... A pledge that includes unclassified information. From my point of view the Government compelling journalists to blindly publish a story whether or not they know it to be true is a complete violation of freedom of the press and the death of journalistic integrity. If the freedom of speech does not protect journalists, who does it protect?

If you're a bookworm like me, you may have already spotted the danger. That when Trump is done stripping tv hosts, broadcasting companies, and journalists of their rights, he may come after books. That what we read will be monitored and any book deemed unacceptable or too dangerous will be pulled from libraries and burned in the street. Authors will have to have government approval to publish, every word they write dissected for a meaning that might enflame or even educate the masses. How fitting that right now I'm reading Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, which is probably at the top of the list of books that will be banned from society. No ruler hoping to censor their people would want a book about censorship floating around. 

Though my followers are few and I may offend half of them, I want you to be aware of your rights. You have the right to practice your religion no matter what it is. You have the right to speak and to write. You have the right to an opinion and the right to protest (I recommend that you do). You have these rights because the United States Constitution was written with you in mind. Should you ever find these rights infringed upon by the Government then it might be time to admit something in the Government is amiss.