That’s not how the First Amendment works…
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.
Yes, you have the freedom of speech. Yes, you can’t be jailed for almost all speech (yelling FIRE in a movie theater totally not protected, but KKK protests totally okay). You are NOT, however, protected from your non-government company deciding your speech is damning to them, and being “let go”. Nor are you protected from other people utilizing their free speech to speak out against your free speech.
Isn’t America great?
By now, no matter how much you’ve tried to avoid it, your various media outlets and social media friends have talked about Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty expressing his opinion about gays, blacks, women, etc; and how A&E “indefinitely suspended” him over this. I don’t care what your opinion is on the matter, and honestly, mine doesn’t either, because here’s the skinny: THE FIRST AMENDMENT IS STILL WORKING. And if you’re upset about him, but not of Justine Sacco losing her job after making a racist (albeit I giggled at it) tweet, and then getting fired, or that CNN correspondent who said some rather rude things about Sarah Palin on air and then was given a choice of quit or be fired, or the countless others who say some shit either in person or on social media and there are let go, then fuck you. Phil doesn’t get a special pass because he’s famous. The rest of us sure as hell don’t. And if this was something that bothered you hardcore, rather than ANYTHING MORE IMPORTANT TO YOUR LIFE, then you should be fixing your priorities.
You get the freedom of speech. You do not get freedom from the consequences. If I were to be interviewed as a representative of a company and I said something like “People under the age of 21 with kids should have their kids taken away and should be committed”, I’m certain I’d be fired. Your company doesn’t need you making them look bad. And thus they’ll get rid of you if they feel you have the ability to damage them. That’s how things work. Deal with it. You may not agree with it, but no one currrrr.
You really wanna see a lack of freedom of speech actually hurting someone? If you’ve been following the tale of Pussy Riot in Russia, then you know what I’m talking about. If not, here’s the abridged version: female punk band sings protest against Orthodox Church and Putin in 2011. PUTIN HAS THEM JAILED FOR “HOOLIGANISM”. They and their supporters were abused whilst in prison for their views. A few of them stayed in jail until just recently for this. THAT’S A LACK OF PROTECTION OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Not losing your job, not being attacked for your views, no. Being put in jail. And that’s what our first amendment protects us from.
Also, you shouldn’t be watching reality TV, especially shows on A&E anyways.
