The First Amendment
found in the Bill of Rights to the Constitution of the United States says: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances.
Free speech is
an interesting concept. In the United States, a substantial body of
Constitutional law has evolved into what is generally called the that Prior
Restraint Doctrine, which says "speech may not be restrained
until a final judicial determination that it is not protected by the
First Amendment."
So, what is and what isn't
protected speech?
Protected speech are the things you are free to say privately and
in a public setting and include a wide latitude of political and religious
expression.
But
some speech isn't protected. You can't yell "fire" in a
crowded building to endanger lives. You can't engage in speech to incite a riot
because that might also endanger lives. In determining what is and
what isn't free speech, the greater public good will always trump your right to express
yourself.
While what you say may be
protected, that is, not restrained by the Constitution, there may still be substantial legal or economic
consequences if you choose to speak your mind. For example:
In this
"Patriot Act" age, there are
things you might say in a blog (or on the phone to your best bud) that could open you up to criminal
prosecution (or worse yet, no criminal prosecution with
constitutional protections).
If you are a federal government
employee, remember that there's a fine line
between being a protected whistle blower and the betrayer of state
secrets.
If you are a
corporate employee who signed a non-disclosure agreement, you can't post your company's trade secrets to the
internet without getting fired and possibly being sued for damages.
Even if you didn't sign a non-disclosure agreement, you will probably
get fired and might be sued for damages.
State "Deceptive Trade
Laws" protect consumers from false and misleading advertising
statements. If you make
false statements to sell goods or services (in print or in the online
marketplace), you could
be subject to civil damages in lawsuits by the buyers of those goods or services.
If you say untrue things
about other individuals (in speech, in print, or on the Internet),
you could open yourself up to civil law suits for slander or liable.
Other than those George Orwell,
government employment, and civil slander and libel lawsuit concerns which can arise out of obsessive
communication, you can say and write whatever you like in America. And
people do, especially on blogs.
Just remember, as F. Scott Fitzgerald
said, The
test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two
opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the
ability to function. There are always at least two sides to
every story in these United States of America and every other American
is just as entitled to speak their version of truth as you.
A great
nation isn't red and it isn't blue and it isn't the bluster of it's
politician. A great nation is "red,
white, and blue"; a great nation is the sum of thinking and
speaking citizens who expect their politicians to remember who they
are really working for!
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Webpage Copyright L.B. Cobb. All Rights Reserved.
This page last
updated 04/21/2009
by Texas Web Houston.
