First Amendment as the First Line of Attack?

"Free Speech" doesn't mean "anything you want to say".

Imagine, in school, being given a final exam comprised entirely of fill-in-the-blank questions. 

This assessment is the sole determination of your ultimate grade in the class. 

Next, let's suppose you never cracked a book or reviewed the notes that cover the content of the test.  No partial credit is given, hence, if there are 2 answers required to make the statement true, both of your responses on those items must be correct.  For example:

"________ and _______ are the two elements that combine to make water.".  

You answer "Hydrogen" and "Chlorine", as that compound does form something familiar.

Yes, hydrogen is used in making water, but chlorine is not.  These 2 elements, in combination, can act as a toxin to our bodies, which is a far cry from joining 2 atoms of hydrogen with 1 atom of oxygen to form water.  You would want to avoid ingesting, at all costs, the "version" of water suggested by your answer.

Approaching the remainder of the examination in the same manner, you fill in the blanks with words you pluck from your brain, having remembered a few of them from the lectures, to take up the glaring white space, almost manufacturing information, pretending to know a lot about which you actually know so little. 

My point?  If a person only has part of the information, making up what is missing can have dire consequences - in the instance above, failing a class.

On a global level, however, haphazardly adding to, or completing stories/scenarios without fully educating oneself about a particular situation can be a road map to disaster, destruction, and despair.  It is disheartening to see certain local or national leaders (yes, elected officials) speaking so emphatically on hot-button issues, yet with a flagrant void in their informational reserves and a clear lack of verity.  Equally, if not more disturbing, are the droves of people who are quick to believe these unproven statements-disguised-as-fact and unfounded rhetoric that lack the substance to merit it as the truth.    Didn't we learn anything from the atrocities in Europe between 1933 and 1945 as a result of one person's verbal onslaught? We can NOT, for a single moment, sit back with ease and naively believe that history won't repeat itself! Just look around....AND listen. Some are all too willing to jump on a runaway, dangerous bandwagon only to discover, much too late, that they have placed their faith in the wrong individuals.

Is it any wonder that, in light of the October 7th terror attacks in Gaza, and Israel's subsequent retaliatory strikes, college campuses, public gathering places, and yes - even some government entities are fraught with antisemetic grandiloquence, all in the name of "Free Speech", regardless of whether "holes" in the full story have been indiscriminately plugged with individual opinions rather than factualness?

What did James Madison intend when he penned the revisions to our Constitution, specifically regarding a person's right to speak his or her mind?  It most certainly does NOT include (among other things) defamatory speech, true threats, incitement, fighting words, and/or speech integral to criminal conduct.

Think about the frequency with which the First Amendment has been exploited as a means to engage in the First Line of Attack against an individual, group, or set of beliefs.  Assaults rarely end with words alone and, too often escalate out of control, leaving a trail of gut-wrenching ruin, death of the men and women who give their own lives to protect ours, and unimaginable "collateral damage":  innocent people - children, babies, the elderly, along with anyone and anything that happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

It has always been my understanding that Mr. Madison, along with the Founding Fathers who composed our Constitution, meant to enhance this country, as well as her citizens, with the freedoms and protections contained in these documents - not give license to incite hate, violence, or oppression, then hide behind the "shield" of Democracy.  Those liberties should elevate us as humans, NOT provide the acquiescence for people to stoop towards the lowest common denominator, scraping their bellies on the ground like a snake.

It requires but one false or misleading statement (like the response above, that Hydrogen and Chlorine combine to make water), and just one person to "drink the Kool-Aid" (which is hopefully NOT made with the above test-taker's "recipe"!), and begin to disseminate that information, filling in the blanks with assumptions and suppositions in lieu of actualities.  The consequences of this type of "guesswork" are, unfortunately, much more calamitous than failing a class (not to minimize that), as lives, communities, and local/national/international alliances are damaged, extinguished, and/or can be rendered irreparable.

We've all heard of the "domino effect". If we insert people in place of dominoes, it just takes one to stand firm in their resolve and say, "I am stronger than that and can think for myself.", then promptly lean the other way to interrupt that traveling momentum, altering the trajectory of motion, and initiating the change that so many of us ache to see (and be).

With information at our fingertips 24/7, investing the time to educate ourselves about the different sides of an issue, seeking the full story to begin with, or even studying for a test to eliminate our chances of failure due to conjecture, it is incomprehensible that people so impetuously yield their own cognitive and reasoning abilities to those with the loudest voices, or when they merely presuppose how to fill the gaps. It is reprehensible when those whom we ascended to office serve themselves and their own agendas rather than serving the people they took an oath to represent.

If a gold ingot has been drilled through in various places, leaving voids where the precious metal used to be, one would not want it "repaired" or filled with a lesser substance because it would greatly diminish the value and compromise the integrity of the bar.  So, too, we must not seek to supply missing information without verifying its authenticity.  In some circumstances, the repercussions could be too grave.  Nor should we espouse words or epithets that are an affront to others, then claim our "right" to Free Speech, thus demonizing and tearing down the principles that were adopted in order to uplift us.  What about the rights of others to simply live? That is an insult to those who have given their time, their sweat, and even their lives to protect our freedoms. We should honor those brave souls by adhering to the standards as they were meant to be incorporated, be grateful for the opportunity, and demand better from each other as well as from those whom we place in positions of influence.

© Cre8ive Writes, LLC  2023