Sunday, August 25, 2013

Time to do away with the First Amendment

In many ways, the all important First Amendment was seriously compromised when the SCOTUS decided that in order to maintain the integrity of the establishment clause regarding religion, sometimes the free exercise clause would necessarily need to be compromised.  But beyond legal mumbo jumbo, there is a growing intolerance for not only dissenting religious beliefs, but also offensive speech in general.

I don't twitter.  I see it as a technological rape of the written word.  I'm no talented writer, but I appreciate beautiful writing and enjoy an eloquent prose.  Twitter is the antithesis of that.  But when I see this link, about people calling into question whether Twitter should allow a rascally pro-life tweet, it shows how far we've come.

Growing up, even when the KKK or neo-Nazis gathered, people begrudgingly admitted that it was their right.  The media, never sympathetic to their causes, would often end a story about such groups with 'well, it's their right.' But today, we see a growing disgust with the idea that people who think differently than I do should have the same rights as me.  Conservatives have always been there to a point, believing that a nation had a right to mandate a particular moral code, and that culturally a country might just prefer some things over others.  Liberalism was supposed to end all that and make America a completely free and open country for all.

But now, those on the Left, with growing support in the media, academia, and in some cases it appears the courts, are growing impatient with those who have not converted to the liberal gospel.  And so you have stories like this.  This also points to that new trend of uber-powerful rich guys controlling venues for modern communications.  People like Steve Jobs, or Steve Zucherberg, or Larry Page who control a tremendous amount of communication potential and have been more than willing to make calls on just what they will allow and what they will not allow.

Should we make it official and rewrite or do away with the First Amendment?  I hope not.  But to see a growing segment of Americans, many of whom identify with the formerly tolerant and diversity loving Left, you'd think it's a foregone conclusion.

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