Joe Wesloskie – 4/15/07

This page was last updated on April 16, 2007.

What about free speech?; Joe Wesloskie; Beaver County Times; April 15, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“It’s quite obvious to me that our freedoms in this country are being slowly eroded day by day.

“You may not like what Don Imus said and you may not agree with him, but at one time in this country we had a First Amendment that guaranteed a person’s right to freedom of speech.

“Now, only certain segments of our nation have the freedom to say whatever they want to with no repercussions. If you are a person of color, you can call Caucasians names and say derogatory things about Jewish people with no repercussions at all. The Rev. Jesse Jackson can say ‘Heimie Town’ in reference to New York’s Jewish population, black entertainers can call women in song and video all kinds of disgusting names and that’s supposed to be alright.

“Wake up, America. The Constitution never intended to protect us from having our feelings hurt or from someone saying something stupid, as Imus did.

“We cannot tolerate having different standards for different people in this country. You may not like what people say, but we should fight for their right to say it.”

[RWC] In general, I agree with Mr. Wesloskie’s letter. Where we part company is when he drags the Constitution into the discussion because government played no role in this event.

The Constitution guarantees only that “Congress shall pass no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press …” There is no guarantee that someone has to publish/broadcast your speech. Publishers, broadcasters, et cetera are free to choose their contributors just as advertisers are free to choose the programs they will sponsor.