Shoot me for I bring news

I'm seeing an upswing in the number of people questioning the First Amendment these days.

This is, rightly enough, disturbing. A few other things concern me when these folks question the need for 1A. In no particular order, they are:

• The idiotological leaning of these folks. Attention grammar nazis: I used the correct word.

• The media outlet being attacked. NB: my support or rejection of any media outlet is irrelevant.

• The lack of thought behind the reasons and motivations.

• A refusal to understand.

IDIOTOLOGICAL

As much as I wanna take credit for creating that word, I can't. I found online uses of it the same day I came up with it. In means having an ideology, world-view, outlook or viewpoint that is not based on reason, science, solid foundations, empirical evidence, proven history or a line of thought that has stood the test of time.

The idiotological leaning of these folks is that 1A must be bad because it allows the media to spread false information. Never mind the very folks complaining spread plenty of lies themselves.

Besides which, liars are as old as communication. Humans do not have a monopoly on this. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/05/animals-lying-liars-birds-squid/

My personal favorite liar in the rest of the Animal Kingdom is the Drongo. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2621584/The-bird-impersonates-MEERKAT-steal-food-Drongo-catches-quarter-meals-imitating-creatures.html

It's not that the media outlets are lying. Some are. More accurately, the media outlets accused of lying are expressing opinions and ideas that the idiotologically hidebound cannot stand. Before you get excited about this and start the finger-pointing, I tell you this attitude is found in equal measure on the right and the left.

The idiotological on both sides are dogmatic followers of the confirmation bias. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-confirmation-bias-2795024

Lemme put this in simpler terms - If someone has solid evidence and that evidence is rejected out of hand, this is idiotology.

In 1A terms, this means anything that contradicts the belief structure, no matter what it is, must be fake, heresy, lies and so on. Because it contradicts, it should not be permitted.

See the inherent problem? Under this line of thinking, the Flat Earth folks have to be shut down HARD, unless they are in a majority. If they achieve a majority, then the Round Earth folks must be shut down HARD. Pick an opinion or belief. Without 1A in place, the majority rules, whether or not that ruling is based on reality.

This way lies totalitarianism, despots and tyranny.

MEDIA ATTACKS

Here is an excellent defense of 1A and the need for it. Media attacks.

The most virulent attacks on the modern media are generally directed at Fox News. The left goes into apoplectic fits over this network's version of the news. Nevermind the vast majority of the news, not the opinions, but the straight news, is a carbon copy of most other news outlets. Again, set opinion aside.

Yes, CNN, the NY Times and a few others get a share of the attacks from the right. The hate is well below the level of vitriol aimed at Fox.

Adding to the furor of the left wingers (and birds do have a right wing as well), Fox commands the news ratings.
https://www.multichannel.com/news/fox-news-channel-dominates-weekly-cable-ratings-charts

If nothing else, this should give the left's idiotologicals cause for pause. It does not, because they cannot be rational about this. The pause is: If that many people are watching Fox, they must be a majority. Without 1A, they could easily force all other outlets out of business and all we'd have is Fox News.

Ya hear me yet? Without 1A and majority rule, all we'd have is Fox news.

The reverse is also true. If the left-leaning media dominates, then without 1A, the right-siders would be run out. All we'd have is places like Mother Earth News.

1A guarantees the right to choose who to listen to. 1A guarantees the rights of the idiotologicals on all sides as well as those of us standing apart looking on in horror. 1A means we have a choice.

More to the point - 1A protects your right to choose. Without it, we'd have a government-ordered media like N. Korea and China. You'd be told what to think, when to think it and how to think it.

Which brings us to

REASON

I almost discussed this above. Lemme lay this on you from 4 directions.

1. Shup.

1A protects your right to keep your damfool mouf shut. Yes, it does. No one can force you to say anything you disagree with. We tend to forget that, concentrating on our right to actually open our damfool moufs and start spewing nonsense.

“Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” Mark Twain

A single rebuke does more for a person of understanding than a hundred lashes on the back of a fool. Proverbs 17:10

2. Rebels needed.

Society advances because of rebels, people challenging the norm, stepping outside convention and doing. Ya think not? All the people who changed the world did so in the face of authorities telling to knock it off or they would get knocked off.

Still disagree? Ok. Jesus. Martin Luther, Ghandi. Adolf Hitler, (I did not say all these people will meet your or my definition of good). Genghis Khan, Henry the VIII. Stalin. Washington, Jefferson. Gutenberg. Castro. Gates. Einstein. Marx. Guatama. Darwin. Whole lot more.

All these people stood up and challenged the status quo. They put forth ideas that were hated, rejected and many of them were killed for this. Some succeeded in a revolution and setting up a new order. Some did not. They all tried and they all relied on communicating messages that some people rejected with extreme violence. They did not follow the crowd.

Without deviation progress is not possible. Frank Zappa

3. Be wrong.

1A protects people's right to be wrong.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

✔@neiltyson

 · Mar 11, 2016

If there were ever a species for whom sex hurt, it surely went extinct long ago.

The Internet bodyslammed the famed astrophysicist over that tweet.

https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/tech/neil-degrasse-tyson-wrong-sex-twitter/index.html

It was not the first time he was wrong. Aside from some embarrassment, nothing happened. Why? 1A. Anyway, stick to the stars, Neil. 

The same applies to all the other "experts" out there who are suddenly Rhodes Scholars on the hot topic du jour. People who scream the loudest about FAKE NEWS! and make demands about 1A all have multiple PhDs in biology, astronomy, physics, psychiatry and psychology, internal and external medicine, philosophy, basket weaving, human resources, public administration and, certainly not least, the US Constitution.  That's sarcasm, BTW.

4. Be an idiot.

1A protects the rights of everyone to have a belief in defiance of facts. It also allows these people to present that belief. 1A also protects people from having to be 100 percent truthful all the time.

If people were confined to stating only facts, proven facts, we'd not have much to say. Hrm. That might be a good thing. Anyway...

Lemme rephrase that. 1A protects the right to lie.

http://trumanproject.org/home/doctrine-blog/supreme-court-upholds-right-to-lie-and-its-a-good-thing/

I understand that one is going to create splodey heads all over the place. However, I have yet to meet a human being capable of communicating who does not lie. Yep.

"I was not speeding."

"Santa Claus is watching you."

Other lies are any fictional work of literature, all TV shows not 100 percent factual and this includes sitcoms and other brain rotters. Despite their own words proving they lie, politicians still do it. They do it over and over and over no matter how many times they are caught. Reagan? Liar. http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Ronald_Reagan/EnduringLies_RonaldReagan.html Obama? Liar. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/list/?category=&ruling=false&speaker=barack-obama

5.  A bonus.

Smoke this one: It protects all the world's religious works and anti-religious works. The existence of God cannot be proven through SCIENCE! At the same time, SCIENCE! reminds us a lack of evidence is not a lack of existence. 1A guarantees both have a seat at the discussion table.

Speaking of polarities,

A lack of thought

We do away with 1A. That means freedom of the press is possibly gone. It also means your freedom of speech is also on the way out. You cannot restrict the press without restricting yourself at the same time.

Burns yer taters when someone insults, denigrates, rips, or GASP! tells the truth about your favorite president? Shut 'em up? Cool. Killing 1A also means you cannot insult, denigrate, rip or tell the truth about your most hated president.

And the last one - 

SLOW DOWN AND THINK

I keep seeing people say the media should be shut down for spreading lies. That's covered above. However, those "lies" are most often information attributed to reputable sources. In other words, we tell you what the president, CEO, bona fide leader, actual expert said. If that person lied, it's on their head. If you don't like the truth that person said, it's on your head.

Most of the media does not lie. We just tell you what other people say. They lie. 

I have a perfect f'r'instance from this week's newspaper I run.

Yesterday (Monday, May 4, 2020) the state had two reports about the Kung Flu panic for my county. Report 1, updated twice a day, showed 9 deaths for the whole county. Report 2, covering only nursing homes, reported 11 deaths. Tuesday morning's county-wide report showed 10 deaths.

Huhn?

I reported this. I quoted the Department of Health. I can show you the reports. I even pointed out the problem.

Yet, I am the problem.

Some people simply won't understand. I don't make news. I report it. If you do not like the news, you problem is with the people making the news, not me.

SHOOT 'EM ALL

In other words, shoot me for I bring news but that gun also has a barrel pointed at your head at the same time. Pull the trigger, both barrels go off.

No?

It is true I am a professional journalist. I get paid to tell you things. I earn a living by writing, speaking — communicating. Just like you do.

Every job I know of requires the person doing the job to communicate with someone else. You have to tell someone something. You have to ask someone something. 1A protects your right to do that, free of interference from the government and free of interference from others who prefer you do not communicate. That is critical. No matter what you say, someone is going to be offended. 1A means they have to take it. 1A means YOU have to take it. You may call other people idiots. I guarantee someone else is calling you an idiot. 1A protects all of us idiots.

As Rowan Atkinson said, the right to offend is greater than the right to not be offended.