Freedom Forum First Amendment Survey

phutureboy writes "The Freedom Forum survey mentioned in this Wired News story scares the crap out of me, and has shocked me into wanting to do something about it. What can the average Joe like myself do to help protect the First Amendment?" A good question...

What to Do?

[b!X]

First off, you stay informed -- thorugh sites like the Freedom Forum [freedomforum.org], Wired News [wirednews.com], the ACLU [aclu.org], and even Slashdot. The ACLU in particular is the best firstbet to both staying informed and participating in "average Joe" armchair activism, mainly thorugh their Alert list, which often contains links to pages at the ACLU website where you can send free faxes to your Congressional representatives on a variety of pressing issues.

More, start finding the sources for keeping track of First Amendment issues locally where you live. Big national issues get decent attention sometimes, but local issues (often, these days, based around youth) do not. Not to come back to ACLU again, but it wouldn't hurt to join your state chapter.

Re:Not surprising.

[b!X]

On local-level activity: One of the things my soon-to-be-defunct cybercafe became known for was its annual Readings of Declaration event on July 4 -- in fact, for the first year's coverage in the newspaper, all the local fireworks and picnics got lumped into a single big article on one side of page one of the metro section, while an equally-sized articleon the right side was all about our event.

Many newspapers, or at least certain reporters, would kill for a chance to speak about these issues in a fresh context that makes it real for people. Our event gave them one (readings of U.S. founding documents and other writings, such as a Zapatista proclamation, Declaration of Human Rights, etc.)

Personally, I'd still like to see a nationwide network of such readings on July 4 next year. A calculated and planned, coast to coast set of events designed to make the issues under the First Amendment and other sources very real and in front of people.

A big part of the problem is ignorance

[Brian See]

Perhaps this just shows the woeful state of education in the schools, or the blissful ignorance of law and issues. A telling question was:

8. Under current law, do Americans have the legal right to burn the American flag as a means of political protest? Yes or no?
33% Yes, 64% No, 3% DK/Ref

Of course, the "correct" answer is that flag-burning is considered to be protected speech -- that's why there are constitutional amendments being considered.

Almost half of the respondents did not remember taking a class that dealt with the First Amendment. (question 9) Perhaps the respondents dropped out of high school, or were not paying attention that day/week...

Since 28% of the respondents felt that the First Amendment "goes too far in the rights it guarantees" (question 3), perhaps the responses about Internet and other broadcast regulation aren't really that surprising.

Not surprising.

[Reject]

First off: This survey is a month or two old, that's irrelevant but I'd just like to point it out..

Second, is this really surprising? As a faithful visitor of the Freedom Forum, I can't say it's the least bit surprising to me. A quick glance at their archives shows a lot more articles than this that scare the crap out of me. I don't think there's really any one thing you can do. As far as I can tell, the problem isn't one thing, it's just the overall attitude of society. There is no quick "Do this" answer. You just need to keep informed about issues (As someone mentioned Freedom Forum, the ACLU website and YRO are good starts), try to keep other people informed and let them know why surveys like this are so scary. Educate the ignorant masses, don't flame them, don't yell at them.

On a local level, start debates with friends/family/people who you know would be on the side of the majority in that survey, or borderline. Slowly but surely if you're convincing they'll start to get the point. Just don't think "We need to change this now!" think "We need to show these people what's wrong with their logic".

--
Reject

Teaching the 1st amendment

[jflynn]

As I recall the dim days of highschool it occurs to me that we were taught the first amendment in an overpoweringly political context. While this is undoubtedly the area of most concern, perhaps more attention should be paid to it's role in protecting unpopular speech.

There is a real disconnect here between the poll results for the first amendment vs. the poll results about suppression of porn, vulgar language, and violence. Either Americans know what they're saying and think we need to regulate the internet like TV, or they don't fully understand the first amendment. I'm really hoping it's the latter.