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Of late, I\u2019ve seen any number of polls that seem to indicate that the United States as a republican democracy is doomed. We have polls saying that today Felonia von Pantsuit would win against President Donald Trump. We have others saying President Trump should be impeached and removed. Now we have one saying that the 1st<\/sup> Amendment protections on Freedom to speak your mind should be ended and people put in jail for saying bad things. Here are the details from the Washington Free Beacon<\/b><\/a>:<\/p>\n A majority of Americans believe the First Amendment should be rewritten and are willing to crack down on free speech, as well as the press, according to a new poll<\/a>. <\/b>More than 60 percent of Americans agree on restricting speech in some way, while a slim majority, 51 percent, want to see the First Amendment rewritten to “reflect the cultural norms of today.” The Campaign for Free Speech, which conducted the survey, said the results “indicate free speech is under more threat than previously believed.” <\/b><\/p>\n “The findings are frankly extraordinary,” executive director Bob Lystad told the <\/b>Washington Free Beacon<\/b><\/em>. “Our free speech rights and our free press rights have evolved well over 200 years, and people now seem to be rethinking them.” <\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019m going to call Bovine Droppings on this. To begin with, let\u2019s look at the actual question asked on this poll:<\/p>\n The First Amendment, which provides the right of Americans to have free speech, was enacted more than 200 years ago. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? <\/b><\/p>\n ‘The First Amendment goes too far in allowing hate speech in modern America and should be updated to reflect the cultural norms of today.’ <\/b><\/p>\n That is what I would call a very loaded question. It asks if we should change something because society has changed and doesn\u2019t bother to ask how this would reflect society in say 50 years. What it does show is that people flat out do not understand the Constitution because they have not read it, been taught about it or understand why the guarantees of Freedom of Speech and the press, the right to keep and bear arms along with all the other rights exist. This is flat out due to the incompetence of the education system today and the dumbing down of Americans.<\/p>\n Of the 1,004 respondents, young people were the most likely to support curbing free expression and punishing those who engage in “hate speech.” Nearly 60 percent of Millennials\u2014respondents between the ages of 21 and 38\u2014agreed that the Constitution “goes too far in allowing hate speech in modern America” and should be rewritten, compared to 48 percent of Gen Xers and 47 percent of Baby Boomers. A majority of Millennials also supported laws that would make “hate speech” a crime\u2014of those supporters, 54 percent said violators should face jail time.<\/b><\/p>\n Speaking of dumbed down, you have just described most of the Millennials, (Those born since 2000), today. They are poorly educated in American History and are not capable of critical thinking or logic. They are pampered spoiled little brats who have had everything handed to them. They also unable to see that the very things they support, banning free speech, can be turned against them in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n American hostility to the First Amendment did not stop at speech. Many would also like to see a crackdown on the free press. Nearly 60 percent of respondents agreed that the “government should be able to take action against newspapers and TV stations that publish content that is biased, inflammatory, or false.” Of those respondents, 46 percent supported possible jail time.<\/b><\/p>\n And absolutely none of that is needed. There is a way to deal with a corrupt press. It\u2019s called Libel laws. It\u2019s quite common for the Mostly Stupid Media to make a mistake when reporting news. The honest and honorable news services, once they understand they\u2019ve made a mistake, will move to correct that error and make amends.<\/p>\n Sadly, these days, that doesn\u2019t happen. However, having the ability to sue a news organization out of existence for lying is far better then letting some bureaucratic censor shut down a story. This is what is currently happening with the cases brought by Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandman against CNN, The Washington Compost and NBC.<\/p>\n A free and honest press is one of the ways we maintain a semblance of an honest government. The more sources of information for a person to access, the better informed they will be.<\/p>\n The poll was released just two days after two University of Connecticut students were arrested<\/a> for allegedly saying racial slurs in a viral video. The 21-year-old suspects were allegedly playing “a game in which they yelled vulgar words,” according to the police report. Lystad said such incidents and the rise of social media may be behind the increased willingness of Americans to curb speech rights.<\/b><\/p>\n I read about that incident, and I\u2019m surprised it hasn\u2019t been destroyed yet by the United States Supreme Court. It\u2019s possible that people haven\u2019t actually bothered to fight this or it hasn\u2019t actually gone to trial. I suspect that is about to change.<\/p>\n “I think [our findings] are fueled in large part because of a rise of hate speech, but traditionally, hate speech is protected in the First Amendment,” Lystad said. “The Supreme Court has upheld that principle time and time again.”<\/b><\/p>\n Hate speech is a load of crap. That and the so called \u201cHate crimes\u201d where the prosecutors throw on more charges because you may hate someone or a group. That smacks of thought control. While how someone was thinking might be used to determine a motive in a crime, it shouldn\u2019t be considered a crime in and of itself.<\/p>\n “Hate speech should be condemned, but legally, the answer to speech we don’t like is more speech, not censorship,” <\/b>Lystad<\/b> said. “Our primary focus is education, and to help people better understand the First Amendment, free speech, free press, and why it’s so vital to our democracy.”<\/b><\/p>\n There was a saying when I was a kid. \u201cSticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.\u201d The problem today is that to many of these idiots are more concerned with their feelings then with the real world. They want safe spaces where they don\u2019t have to deal with anything they find unpleasant.<\/p>\n The problem with all this is that it doesn\u2019t actually protect anyone. What it does, is give power to the government and takes away freedom from the individual. This leads quickly to a totalitarian state, and when that happens, all these shrinking violets who pushed for this are going to wonder what happened as they\u2019re loaded into the cattle cars and taken away for \u201cDisposal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n