Free Speech
posted in General |FREE SPEECH
Back in college days, my majot was Political Science, regarded in those days as pre-law. After getting my undergarduate degree, I chose the path of business instead of law and, considering the events of the past year, I am proud to say that I am neither a lawyer nor an accountant. How lucky can I get?
A major element of PolySci study was the US Constitution, very much including the 1st Amendment. Good old free speech. But over the past 40+ years, the whole notion of free speech has been stretched way beyond what was contempleted by our forefathers. Now we have obscene filth at art exhibits, and a veritable tidal wave of coarseness, vulgarity, oscenity and pornography beamed at us by the media purveyors of garbage – printed material, movies, and the internet. And what does our Court system say? – “OK, 1st amendment” – and the ACLU stands back and cheers. In all of this stuff mailed to me or beamed into my living room there isn't much I can do about it whether or not I am offended or my sensitivities have been violated. When you hear the defenders say “control your channels or monitor the PC – keep this stuff away from your kids” it's nothing short of laughable. If I am offended, too bad: if I find it insensitive to my values, too bad. Those who create this garbage just point to the 1st amendment, chuckle, and hide behind it.
But in the great world of academe – on our prestigious campuses, it is a different story. Here we have speech codes to ban the use of terms that may be offensive or insensitive to others. We can't use words like “fat, broads, rag-heads, slant-eyes, hunkies, krauts, nigs, spics, queers, fags, wops, or even Indians (since real Indians aren't really Indians). So now the criterion isn't free speech, it's terms that are offensive or insensitive. The terms cited above are not gentle, kind or considerate. And indeed they may offend some. But why are some offensive terms accepted but others are not. If I am at home with my family and become offended by obscenities or pornography coming from a Federally approved media broadcast, why is that to be ignored or sanctioned under the 1st Amendment while non-flattering terms – pejorative or not — are verboten on our campuses? And some of the student penalties are severe. So some people are offended. So what. We either have a 1st Amendment or we don't.
After 3 years in the military and 4 years on a college campus, I am no prude when it comes to language. But the very idea that a charge of insensitivity by someone trumps the 1st Amendment is flat out ridiculous.
Harry Truman had it right, “If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”. I frankly think the 1st has been stretched way too far and a cooperative judiciary has contibuted to having the moral fiber ripped out of our culture. But if we are going to say (via the courts), “anything goes”, then we should get rid of asinine college speech codes that make a joke out of the 1st Amendment. Just tell the students on the first day, “if you are offended, tough; if you find comments insensitive, tough”. After a couple of bumps, life will go on.