The First Amendment

ABC’s hit show “Roseanne” has been cancelled and Roseanne “canned” after she posted a nasty tweet about Valerie Jarrett.  Can we “can” the Rudy Giuliani’s show, too?  He recently did a  character assassination (following the President’s lead) on two really great American public servants (Ex-CIA Directors John Brennan and James Clapper).  Giuliani called  them “clowns”  and “liars” and said, “They are not civil servants as far as I know.” Giuliani’s comments  about these two men seem to me to be just as bigoted, crude, crass, abhorrent and despicable as Roseanne’s tweets!  Then, of course, we have the President denigrating former Presidents and all others who he believes oppose him, putting down Gold Star families, Senator John McCain, a Hispanic judge, immigrants (especially those of color), African-American football players—and on, and on, and on.  His remarks are just as bigoted, crude, crass, abhorrent and despicable as Roseanne’s.  But you haven’t seen the “depths” of cruelty, ignorance, bigotry, crassness, ugliness, and racist rhetoric until  you read the responses of the “people in general” from both sides of the partisan divide who write comments on Social Media and Twitter accounts such as those of the President, Roseanne, and others.  Has “bigotry been emboldened” in this period of our history as former-President Bush suggested recently?  Or has it always been so?

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “The form of government which prevails is the expression of what cultivation exists in the population which permits it.”  What “cultivation” exists in the American population?  There is a tendency to blame Mr. Trump for the racist outbursts and the denigration of persons happening now.  But hasn’t it been there all along beneath our societal veneer?  There is no question that Mr. Trump has called it forth.  He even said that the Roseanne show was “about us.”   And it was—about all of us!

The First Amendment gives us the “right” to say what we think, feel and believe.  Does the right to speak your mind include the right to use offensive language that could incite a deep divide among the people?  Is freedom of speech synonymous with the freedom of expression, such as burning the U.S. flag or kneeling during the national anthem?  Does freedom of speech (and freedom of the Press) protect the right to say or publish scurrilous, defamatory, and libelous stuff?  The Supreme Court has confronted most of these questions.  We may not be satisfied with those decisions—but the last I heard the First Amendment was still part of the Constitution. 

We must “cultivate” (foster the growth, encourage, and improve) our manner of speech and our commitment to our “immortal declaration.”  “We hold these truths to be self-evident:  That all men (women, children, every human being of whatever color, religion or nationality), are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…”  Then our First Amendment rights and the human rights of others will be honored both in deed and word.  I look forward to that day!