Free or Not So Free Speech

Free or not so free speech:

Free speech? What a crock. There is nothing free in life and speech is no different. I remember back in the sixties, when" Hell no we won't go" actually meant something. Now a days kids say that, when it's bedtime. In order for anything to mean something it has to be fought for, it has to be earned, it has to actually affect your life on a personal level.

Exactly what does free speech mean to you? Does it mean that you can express yourself freely and without regard to others? Does it mean that you can say anything about anyone? Both of those are bad examples, free speech as our founding fathers meant it to be was all about freedom. The freedom to hold your own beliefs, to follow your religion and to find your political ideals.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident" is the preceding statement for some of our nation's greatest beliefs. And yet, when confronted with a self-evident truth it is shockingly easy to disregard it. The same people who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America did not include everyone in that freedom.

Can we find free speech in history books? Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Marconi invented the radio. Edison invented light bulb. Each of these are taught to our children. Each of these are held to be hard and fast truths. The skeptical man who rereads history with an open mind, will in fact, find these are all lies. Nikolai Tesla was in fact, the inventor of the telephone, the radio and the light bulb.

How much free speech do we have left today? I can remember a time and in fact, I can remember demonstrating against the fact that big brother was watching and the government satellite and monitoring agencies should be disbanded and left to rot. Personal freedom was a highly fought over issue during the last century. That all changed at 911. Homeland security became of paramount importance and America has never seen its like since the days of Senator McCarthy. Since that act of terrorism, no argument that the government is being too invasive has held sway.

Do we really know what free speech is? It is obvious from the lives we currently live, the truths we hold to be self-evident, the history we know to be true and the paranoia we are the victim of, that we as a people no longer truly understand the meaning or the privilege of free speech.

The Internet is a worldwide conglomeration of computers and in such a conglomeration. We have an unprecedented freedom of speech. Now this may not necessarily be a good thing. We find all the time that there are predators online, in fact entire TV shows are dedicated to it. These predators include terrorists, criminals, pedophiles and militarists. The terms of free speech would by definition seem to include these predators.

Hopefully, that gave you in gut wrenching start. For after all, these are some of the worst examples of our kind. So we find that everyone has ideas on where free speech stop. Jerry Springer, and the Jerry Springer show may be considered the ultimate in free speech. For after all, do not people on exactly the opposite sides of issue go there to vindicate their opinions and views. Jerry Springer himself has stated where he believes free speech should end. He believes, and has stated that you are free to hold your own opinions and values, but he does not believe that you should be allowed to teach them to your children.

Let me draw a corollary for you. Gun-control is also a major issue in this country. Everyone in the United States believes in gun-control. The problem with this issue is that not everyone agrees on the same definition of gun-control. One definition stipulates that controlling guns means that only the police should have them. On the flip side of the coin, gun-control is defined as hitting what you aim at.

So where do we draw the line for free speech? Honestly, if I knew I'd run for president. Freedom of speech, freedom of action and freedom of belief are issues that we have to face individually. When we as individuals have determined the limits that we would set on speech, action and belief, then we may bond with like-minded individuals and achieve a superiority of political power.

In summation we are not interested in free speech for everyone on everything, nor do we wish to allow others to have freedom of actions that limit ours. We wish to establish and maintain an environment that allows us our particular version of Free speech. We try to contain the environ with in the confines of these pages in order to not limit others freedoms in what to read, write or believe. Much as in the example with Nikolai Tesla those who wish to find us and expand their minds will.