© 2024 WNIJ and WNIU
Northern Public Radio
801 N 1st St.
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-753-9000
Northern Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

It Works Only If It Matters

Here in the United States we have lots of laws protecting freedom of press and speech – starting, of course, with the famed First Amendment.

That’s a good start, but it isn’t enough. The fact is, actual persons have to protect this freedom. If it’s abridged, the Constitution doesn’t automatically show up to stop the censorship.

The British writer George Orwell once observed that no one was allowed to distribute pamphlets in Hyde Park, London, but the rule was rarely enforced until a bunch of left-wingers showed up. Then somebody conveniently remembered the rule, and the pamphleteers were promptly removed.

A week later a church group showed up to distribute its printed wares, and no one in authority did anything. This is called selective censorship.

Here in the United States, we hear speeches and notice articles that some of us really hate. They may include hostile and controversial remarks about all sorts of things, including religion, sex, morality, politics, and money. And, when someone tries to shut them down, these speakers and writers will often sue in court on the basis of the First Amendment.

It would be nice to think that judges and juries will decide these questions impartially because the First Amendment, after all, says what it means and means what it says. But, in truth, the whole apparatus of protecting speech depends on the climate of public opinion.

If Americans really care about free speech, the right to it will be enforced. It not, then just having the First Amendment on the books will be profoundly insufficient.

This is Tom McBride, and that’s my Perspective

Related Stories