Column: I was just thinking about ‘free speech’ – Moultrie Observer

MOULTRIE, Ga.

Have you ever thought about this? If it wasnt for the First Amendment, then you probably couldnt ride around in your pickup truck with the essence of the Second Amendment on your bumper.

Ive been in the news business for many years. And Ive heard a lot of comments about free speech and the First Amendment. Ive even been amused by some of the utterances.

Ive often heard, He shouldnt be allowed to say that.

That expression typically comes from one who disagrees with another.

And of course wrapped in satire theres, If I want your opinion, Ill give it to you.

That expression is often meant to point out ones ignorance of the very essence of the First Amendment.

Ive even been told in so many words that if I expressed a particular opinion I would suffer retribution. So I said, lets go for it. I think that person put me on double secret probation or something. Ouch!

Not long ago, a person told me I should not be running a particular columnist on the opinion page of our newspaper. So I asked him why? He said because the columnist was stupid. I asked him how did he know that the columnist was stupid. He said, Because I read him all the time. So I asked him if he often indicts himself.

Ive met people who appear to be afraid to read an opposing opinion, as if through some weird process of osmosis they would embrace, against their will, a foreign idea. In other words, dont read Das Kapital. You might wake up a communist.

During the past presidential election, I witnessed some very crude and hateful exchanges over differences of opinion. Im talking about blue-veins-bulging-in-the-temples kind of anger. I thought to myself if this were a vampire, one could hold up a cross and ward it off. But somehow I dont think holding up a copy of the First Amendment would work.

Of course free speech has some parameters bound by law. The old standard to illustrate that point is that one does not have the right to yell fire in a crowded theater. Its perfectly all right to yell theater in a crowded fire. Or to yell fire if you fall into a vat of chocolate, because if you yell chocolate! no one is going to come to your rescue. (Tommy Smothers)

Ive collected a few sayings over the years pertaining to free speech.

The granddaddy of them all, of course, is attributed to Voltaire: I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Perhaps one quote on free speech that should cause one to do some serious soul searching comes from Leo McKem: It is easy to believe in freedom of speech for those with whom we agree.

Thats kind of like saying one can appear really bold while tracking through the woods at night in search of a Bigfoot when you know full well youre not going to find one.

And of course I routinely look for the light side in researching philosophies and thats when I found this one: At no time is freedom of speech more precious than when a man hits his thumb with a hammer. That quote is attributed to Marshall Lumsden.

In the realm of politics, maybe the greatest truth about free speech is expressed by David Joseph Cribbin: Most people do not really want others to have freedom of speech, they just want others to be given the freedom to say what they want to hear.

Think about it.

(Email: dwain.walden@gaflnews.com)

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Column: I was just thinking about 'free speech' - Moultrie Observer