Just Some Guy

Greetings readers. My apologies for my absence from The Iconoclast in recent weeks. Hi ho, Just Some Guy here. It's been a while since we've had a chance to chat and clear the highways of life of roadkill by tossing it into the Dumpster so let's get right to it. Lemmie pull on my big yellow rubber boots and rub some Vicks VapoRub under my nose (trash stinks ya know).
   I want to ease off my usual fire and brimstone preaching and try to take a more serious note (anyone who doesn't know this more . . . controversial side of me please look on the web site for when I threw Tupac Shakur in the dumpster).

Freedom of Speech: In The Dumpster

   Now before you jump all over me for throwing your unalienable constitutional rights into the trash, hear me out. I don't want to throw it into the trash per se. More like put it in a toilet and jingle the handle so it swirls around a lot so we can see what we really have here. Let me start with this: what is the freedom of speech? The right to say something even though people might not agree with it, right? You say yes, I say no and its cool because of our rights. I want to stand up on my bully-pulpit and say "America is blah blah blah" I can and some Gestapo won't come take me away in the middle of the night like Pablo Neurda. But, have you ever taken a moment to stop and think how this has perversed itself in our modern age? In this, a time of a "sue you, sue everybody" attitude. The freedom of speech becomes a bit more complex when we add three words to it: Defamation of Character. Ah, now things are a bit more complex. We can say what we want BUT it can't rip any one person or group too hard. How about the use of offensive language. How many time has Howard Stern been fined and told "you can't say that,"? What about Allen Ginsberg? He read "Howl" and was locked up for it. Henry Miller couldn't say what was on his mind either because he was offensive to some people. Wouldn't you rather have the right to hear something and say "I'm offended by this and will turn off the radio or television or put down this book," rather than have Tipper Gore or Delores Tucker decide for you? So if we've established anything here, we see that Freedom of Speech is a bit more restrictively selective than we may originally thought. Let me use a current event to illustrate the sort of dualist attitude here. Reggie White was asked to address the Wisconsin state assembly. But instead of giving a five minute speech on family values like asked, he gave a sprawling hour-plus rant in which he said that whites are good at making money, Hispanics at family values for they can put 20-30 people under one roof, blacks at celebration, and oriental people are good at inventing because they can make a watch out of a television (or vise versa). Now when this was over with, many took the stance of "he shouldn't be allowed to say that". There's a few problems with this. First off, if you ask the man for an opinion and he gives you one you don't agree with, you shouldn't have asked him in the first place. Again we have a matter of "I don't want YOUR opinion, I want the CORRECT opinion." Now is Mr. White foolish for saying what he said? Yes. But does he have a right to say it? Yes. Rip him for what he said and don't say he has no right to say it. So you can say what you want as long as it doesn't offend too many people.
   Just be careful and look around you at the things you take for granted. Ask how far do these rights extend and wonder if other people are trying to diminish these rights.