We are going to hear a lot in the coming weeks, months and possibly years about the First Amendment and whether former President Donald Trump was merely exercising his right to free speech when he helped plan efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Violating one’s First Amendment right to free speech is really about government preventing people from the freedom of expression.
A private museum might decide a piece of art is too objectionable to put on display and therefore doesn’t put it out there for public view. But if a city council decides that piece of art should not be on display and tries to prevent, well, that’s a violation of a First Amendment right.
The examples are many, with art being an easy one.
And, it seems, with the Trump era we have seen many expressions not only in social media but in our local communities that are quite objectionable.
A website where we do not have to visit or a place where our children don’t venture is one thing. But out in public where you can’t hit an on-off switch is another.
Drive along many streets in our communities and you will find signs that promote Trump’s 2020 campaign or the 2024 race using vulgarities. Almost the day after President Joe Biden took office, there were signs seen first on social media then in our communities that disparaged the 46th president using language that really is offensive.
But it is protected speech.
There are numerous examples, including the perhaps infamous chant from NASCAR where people were supposedly cheering for a driver with the first name of Brandon, “Let’s Go Brandon,” which really was a veiled reference to “F*** Joe Biden.”
But you won’t see government stopping this. Nor should it.
Unfortunately, it is not limited to politics. There are just too many people in our communities with bumper stickers or homemade signs in their vehicles or on their porches that are, at minimum, offensive.
For example, on a regular basis in downtown Angola, outside a local business, there’s an older model SUV with large stickers on the back windows of skeletal hands giving the middle finger. Under one hand is the eff word. Under the other there’s the word “off.”
There’s no hiding this vehicle or others like it that frequent our communities. We do not have language police, again, because of the First Amendment.
But offensive signage or stickers in our communities where children roam and ask their mommies and daddies what that says is uncalled for.
We need peer pressure to put an end to this visual garbage. Business owners should tell people with offensive signs or bumper stickers on their vehicles to move it or remove it. “I don’t want your message outside my business. It’s not good for business.”
Neighbors should tell neighbors that their certain exercise of free speech, a right we should all enjoy, doesn’t have a place in our community.
Perhaps that would only backfire.
Still, have we no decency?
OUR VIEW is written on a rotating basis by Michael Marturello and Jeff Jones. We welcome readers’ comments.
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August 19, 2023 at 02:38AM
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