Yeah, I Said It!

The rights and freedoms that we have in this country, when it comes to free speech, are not negotiable. Despite the senseless ramblings of some concerning "what our forefathers really meant to say" when writing our Constitution, I happen to believe that they were pretty clear. And, the ability to speak freely about any issue, without government reprisal, is a right that has not changed since the day that the ink made contact with the paper that came to be known as our "Bill of Rights." As someone who enjoys and takes advantage of every opportunity to write and speak my mind, this freedom is one that I will always vehemently defend. Now, having said that, this very right that I speak of has sometimes been, and continues to be, used in a manner that is nothing short of destructive and divisive to the overall good of our society.<br /> <br /> Unlike those who enjoy interpreting the Constitution under the circumstances of today's world, (and what the drafters would have written differently if they had only known) I am confident that they knew that such destruction and divisiveness would always be possible. It was possible then and it is certainly possible now. However, if we were, and if we are, going to live in a truly free environment we must be willing to let anyone speak their mind even in those cases that go against the grain of common sense and sometimes human decency itself. Such a situation has arisen in recent cases where a group of protesters have been showing up at the funerals of our soldiers who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the funeral procession, the protesters will stand by the funeral route holding up signs with messages such as "God Hates You", "You're Going to Hell", and "Thank God for 9-11". <br /> <br /> According to a story in the October 4, 2010 edition of Time magazine, these incidents are happening more and more frequently. And, needless to say, their protests have not been received very well by the families of those soldiers who have been lost. Now it will apparently be up to the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if the protesters' right to speak freely is more important than the troops family's right to exercise their religion and assemble peacefully, and as the article states, the right to conduct a funeral without disruption. While it is impossible to know before hand how the court may rule, most cases challenging someone else's right to free speech have not been very successful. Many standards that concern the provable validity of the statement versus the offensiveness of the statement concerning protected and unprotected speech will be evaluated as this ruling is considered.<br /> <br /> The question boils down to this. Is free speech sometimes too free when it comes down to the total repercussions of what has been said? Is the value of being able to make the statement worth more than the damage that being allowed to make the statement may have caused? The Supreme Court should be well aware of this tipping scale as protesters are a common sight outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington D.C. everyday. Anything from pro-life to pro-choice to gun control, to you name it, is loudly and routinely discussed utilizing every imaginable poster and graphic that can be lugged to the site. For the most part, the Justices on the Court have been compelled to let people say what they want, within the confines of the law, and then make their decisions based on their interpretations and the merits of the issues. <br /> <br /> With that type of previous behavior, and if I had to make a prediction, I would suspect that this case will end in the same manner. The Court, many lesser levels of government, and just plain old normal folks like me, typically feel that the right to make crazy, hurtful, and offensive statements is exactly why they should be allowed to do so. It is such an anomaly in today's world to be able to have such a freedom. In fact, just the opposite seems to be the trend throughout the world whereby people are allowed to say less and less rather than more and more. As the framing fathers knew many years ago, it is simply a right that is too valuable to make it situational.<br /> <br /> However, I also know that if that was my child who was being escorted to his or her final resting place, after having served their country courageously as a volunteer, and dying in the process, I would be in no mood to hear anything about someone else's right to purposely defame their character and their final moments on this earth based on the mindset of some lug nut with a cross to bear that has nothing to do with who they are taking it out on. It's a very fine line that if one chooses to cross it, no matter which right they may be propped up against, there is a very good chance that they might be the recipient of some very uncontrolled havoc and behavior. I suppose it comes down to just how carefully you choose your battles to stand up for and how loudly you are willing to voice your ability to speak those opinions freely. <br /> <br /> As for me, I think that anyone who would be involved in these activities is heartless, cruel, thoughtless, and misinformed showboats who are more concerned about the attention than the issue. In fact, I believe them to be downright un-American. But, more importantly I am proud to live in a country that allows me to express that opinion no matter what anyone else might think. That's what freedom is all about!