The First Amendment Applies to Everyone or It Applies to No One
But we seem to be reaching a point where the line between speech and violence is getting infuriatingly blurred
You can't yell fire in a crowded theater because if you do, people could trample each other and some might die as a result.
What about in the middle of a heated argument, telling someone I'm going to kill you? Does the First Amendment cover that?
What if someone says they're glad Hitler killed 6 million Jews and wishes he would have killed more... Is that protected speech?
What if someone says Palestinians have been terrorizing Jews for decades and the only solution is to forcibly move them out of Gaza, bulldoze it, and start over? Protected?
The expression, “From the river to the sea…” is vile but is it illegal?
What if someone says they think black people should go back to being slaves?
You get my point.
There is a fine line between protected speech and speech considered too violent to be legal.
If, for example, a close friend or family member told you they were so mad at their spouse they would do ANYTHING to get rid of them…or outright said they wished their spouse was dead, most of us would be uncomfortable ignoring such a threat.
But would we go to the police? Or just assume that this unhappily married couple was simply letting off some harmless steam?
I have the same impulse as many of my Jewish friends to have zero tolerance for anything that even approximates anti-semitism, but what is the acceptable method for someone - Jewish or otherwise - to express displeasure with Israel….or even defend the Palestinian people.
Should criticizing Israel be considered anti-Semitic since Israel is a Jewish state?
None of this is easy to sift through.
Finding a balance between allowing people to speak freely without fear of being arrested while ensuring overt threats don’t turn into actual violence….is an impossible task.
How do we tell the difference between someone who genuinely believes Israel is over-stepping (or committing genocide) in Gaza, but is otherwise nonviolent, with someone whose words are a prelude to committing violence in the name of preventing violence?
How does a policeman know whether a domestic violence incident is a once in a lifetime shouting match…or a slippery slope toward one spouse killing the other in a fit of rage?
I lean toward the broadest definition of free speech.
I think there should be a profoundly high threshold reached before we start arresting people strictly for the words coming out of their mouths.
We allow armed Nazis to march our streets.
We allow white supremacist organizations to march through black neighborhoods.
Why?
Because we know if we start jailing people for their opinions, an awful lot of us are going to have to serve time.
I do worry about what will happen - with so many of us armed to the teeth - when a Jewish community feels they’ve had enough of the Nazi’s parading in their backyards.
Or when a black community - also armed to the teeth - feels like those white supremacists calling for them to be lynched isn’t tolerable anymore.
Or when members of the LGBTQ+ community - also armed to the teeth - don’t particularly enjoy the fact that homophobia and anti-transgender behavior seems to be making a comeback?
But the alternative is the federal government sifting through our TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook posts and arresting us for saying something interpreted as being too mean or potentially too violent to be tolerated.
I live in a part of Florida where every single person I know - utterly without exception - has several guns, and not just basic hunting rifles but semi-automatic, assault-type, weapons of war.
They view their guns as their free speech.
I’m not naive or ignorant enough to believe the First Amendment will survive in the long run.
The founders never envisioned the level to which most Americans are now armed.
Maybe I’m just an unrealistic fool, but being able to speak my mind without fear has been a defining aspect of who I am and how I define being free.
If I had a dollar for every time I said something stupid or was misinterpreted, or was so infuriated I made a regrettably violent threat, I’d be a billionaire.
For political, ethnic, cultural, and religious reasons, we may be entering an age where we have to choose between free speech and our safety.
If it gets to the point where people’s emotions are so explosive that their speech is simply a prelude to physical violence, we will lose our First Amendment rights.
I hope that day never comes….but I fear we’re inching closer to it.