Monday Rant

We often see people invoking their first amendment rights when a protest is going on or someone tries to shout down a speaker and then claims their first amendment rights are being violated.  How many of us actually know the words to the first amendment?  Not many, so here it is courtesy of

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/funddocs/billeng.htm

Amendment I

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.

Now notice that this doesn't say that I have to listen to anyone or everyone.  I just can't stop them from speaking.  Or rather the government can't.  Now say a specific group asks a particular person to speak to a crowd.  And not everyone in the public agrees with what they have to say.  They still have the right to speak, I don't have to listen.  This doesn't mean that I have the right to stop them from making their speech.  Now say that I disagree with the speaker, I go to the meeting and try to disrupt the speaker.  I cannot claim that my first amendment is being violated.  I am actually violating the speaker's first amendment right.

So, why the civics class?  Because (and here's my rant) I am tired of the Dixie Chicks and (fill in the blank) and their whining.  Yes, they had a right to say what they did about the President.  I think it showed poor taste, but that was their right.  Now, I also have the right to not listen to their songs or go to their concerts. I think it was also poor taste for people to burn their CDs and albums in protest.  But, they had that right.  Now, that does not mean they don't have talent.  The Grammys are not voted on by the public.  So, their claim "I think people are using their freedom of speech tonight with all of these awards," Maines said.(Reuters) is without merit.

The KKK have the right to speak.  I don't have to go and listen.  I disagree with the group and by not going and trying to shout them down, the lack of a crowd should speak more clearly than a group of people shouting back and forth.  Democratic and Republican speakers should be able to talk to people who want to listen to them without being interrupted by someone who doesn't agree with their agenda.

This goes for those who support the global warming theory.  Yes, I said theory.  I don't believe it has been completely proven to me.  There's too much evidence to the contrary.  Does that mean I'm a denier and should be a pariah?  I'm stunned when I read that there are meteorologists who demand certification be taken away from those meteorologists who do not agree.   Whoa.  I feel as if I'm transported back to the medieval days when Galileo was excommunicated from the Church for saying the world was round.  Have we gone back to that time?  I had hoped we had progressed beyond that.

Same goes for the Holocaust deniers.  The evidence is pretty compelling that it occurred.  There are eyewitnesses to the fact.  But, if someone wants to believe it didn't happen, there is little I can do except provide the evidence and let them decide. 

Ok, class dismissed.  I know, I'm not a civics teacher or such.  This is all my opinion, except for the reproduction of the first amendment.  You have the right to disagree with me that's okay.