The average American may be oblivious to the dire threat to freedom of speech that I see coming.
When Americans bash Biden and the Democrats or bash Trump and Elon while having a few drinks at the corner bar, it may be hard to convince them that freedom of speech in America is being threatened by the President of the United States and many of his devout followers. But criticism of a president, a political party, or an ideology is coming under attack.
Let’s begin with the basic understanding that the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press (media). There are, of course, some exceptions, but free speech is one of the precious gems that America celebrates. In many other countries, the media is owned and controlled by the government. The messages to the people are controlled by the government. But unique to America is a free media with the right and ability to criticize the president and the government. In America freedom is guaranteed by the first of all of the commandments and remains the cornerstone of our free society.
In many countries, especially those controlled by dictators, criticism of the leader or the government can lead to arrest and prison time. It cannot be understated how important freedom of speech is to American society and the thought of a President of the United States threatening that precious right should send a shock wave through the veins of every American.
President Trump has zero tolerance for criticism, even though every president has been criticized. Criticism of a president is part of being a president. President Trump’s lack of tolerance for criticism has manifested itself into revenge. Trump has been threatening to use the FCC, a government agency, to revoke the broadcast licenses of TV networks that air stories that disagree with his views, even if what the networks broadcast is factual.
A danger zone was entered when CBS executive Bill Owens announced he was leaving the show, “60 Minutes,” because he felt he was “losing his journalistic independence.” The fear of retaliation from the Trump Administration over content President Trump disagrees with caused a top executive to leave a popular show marks a serious moment in the threat to freedom of speech in America. What is equally threatening is the dedicated followers of Trump supporting this attack on freedom of speech. Let’s face it, it’s easy to support the speech you agree with, but the real challenge to being a true American is the courage it takes to support the speech you disagree with.
In my attempt to bring attention to the serious threat to freedom of speech posed by President Trump, I talked with Professor Stephen Griffin of Tulane University in New Orleans about how real the threat is and what do Americans need to be aware of when it comes to protecting the First Amendment. Take a listen in the audio player above.