RSS 2.0 FeedJuly 8, 2010, Weekly editorial
What the First Amendment means...
L&M Publications wants readers to send us a short response or summary of any books you have read that provide examples of why the First Amendment is so crucial to a democratic society.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”— The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Imagine a life where you were forbidden to practice your beliefs. Imagine a life where you could never express your thoughts, where only one small group had the power to decide what information could be shared with the public, one small group was allowed to write and rewrite history. Imagine a life where meeting with other people meant breaking a law. Imagine that asking your government for help was illegal.
Before “Big Brother” became known as a reality TV show, it was known as an enigmatic power that ruled the totalitarian state of Oceania in George Orwell’s classic novel, “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” This power was said to be watching all of its citizens at all times. This power was a government whose laws violated every aspect of the First Amendment. It is an example of what a country would be like without the protection that laws such as the First Amendment provide.
Winston Smith, the novel’s main character, lives in a society where he is watched everywhere he goes. He is told what to do and what to think. The only “religion” is loyalty to the ruling party. Speech is so controlled that the party has even eliminated the words related to political rebellion from the English language. Winston Smith works in the “Ministry of Truth,” where he must alter history to fit the needs of the government. In this society, the ruling party is so afraid of people getting together and sharing their thoughts that even romantic relationships between people are forbidden.
Winston begins to transgress the rules of the party when he buys a journal to write down his frustrations about the society in which he lives. He continues to break boundaries when he gets involved in a secret affair with a woman named Julia. All of these actions are a cry for change. They express the need for the human soul to fight for the right to freedom of thought, beliefs, speech, assembly and change.
This July, the Newseum in Washington D.C. is launching a First Amendment Campaign to support, celebrate and remind us of what the First Amendment means to us. Though summer has just begun, many of our children will soon need to look at that summer reading list hiding under the magnet on the refrigerator at home.
We would like to challenge all of you free thinking, ambitious students who look for challenges in life, and question the world, to send us a short response or summary of any books you have read that provide examples of why the First Amendment is so crucial to a democratic society. Send us your responses and we will publish them in order to celebrate the First Amendment and all that it means to us.
(And I’ll bet you that a newspaper clipping with your response is sure to get you brownie points on your first day of school. I can’t think of any teacher who wouldn’t be impressed by that!) – C. T.
You can email us at lmedit@optimum.net - subject: First Amendment
