The First Amendment Shields Hate Speech, But Only For One Side
A tenured, female English Department professor, teaching at Fresno State University, made some disgusting Twitter remarks about Barbara Bush within hours of the widely loved and respected former First Lady’s death yesterday (April 17, 2018). The lowlight of her comments included this angry declaration: “Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal.” To which she added for emphasis: “I’m happy the witch is dead.” Bizarre, if for no other reason than I doubt the professor has ever met Mrs. Bush, as would certainly be evident from her harsh comments. To her “witch” comment, she pilled on by writing that she “can’t wait for the rest of the family to fall to their demise the way 1.5-million Iraqis have.” Apparently, to her, life under murderous dictator Saddam Hussein was preferable to the U.S.-led mission that brought freedom to the Iraqi Nation, a situation that would now be far more settled had not former President Obama made the purely political decision to pull our troops out of Iraq prematurely, creating a void which led, inevitably, to the increased rise and spread of terrorist forces threatening that nation, and others.
Ironic that her hate speech is protected by the First Amendment within our Constitution, that incredible document and American treasure, that leftists, like our professor here, often choose to disparage and ignore. And make no mistake, far and away most of the hate speech in America these days is uttered by members of the Left. Case in point, the continuing barrage of insulting remarks aimed directly at President Trump. For well understood reasons, interesting how brazenly hateful remarks were seldom, if ever, aimed at President Obama when he was in office. It all comes down to this. Hate speech is permissible, and seemingly encouraged, as long as the speaker or writer is on the political Left. Whether from Hollywood types, a California English professor, or others of their tribe, there is no penalty for aiming disparaging remarks directly at our sitting President. But it seems the First Amendment’s protection for speech freedom, including hate speech, only applies to, and shields, those on the Left. Conservatives are routinely denied that same protection. It’s now well known that conservative speech is being censored, or access outright denied, by certain social media sites and publications. Conservative view points and expression must then work all the harder to break through the speech and thought blockade, created by the Left and Big Media (sadly, for the most part, one in the same). This selective application of First Amendment free speech, favoring one side while smothering the other, is not at all what the framers of our Constitution intended. (Reference: Fox News On Line & The Daily Caller, April 18, 2018)