Another Historical Day

 

This is another historic day in the history of this country.  It was the first time in our 245-year history that a President has been impeached twice.  Yes, it is a historical day but not in any joyful way.

We are so divided along partisan lines; I wonder if anything can bring us together.  President Elect Biden seems to want to bridge the divide, but it will be a very tough challenge given the chasm that exists.  I truly wish him well in his efforts to do so.

I am not a fan of Donald Trump’s, but half of the country is.  They are devoted to him in ways I really cannot fathom.  In turn they cannot understand how people dislike him so much.   There seems to be no middle ground.  Everyone needs to make efforts to understand the other perspective.

I was talking with a friend of mine from my Colgate days yesterday.  We were talking about this State of Union we find ourselves in.  He grew-up in the former Soviet Union, he brought up a notion that was rumbling around in my head.  He was concerned that Twitter and Facebook could basically censor or cut-off someone, in this case the President of the of the United States.  He couldn’t help but wonder if we are setting a bad precedent and jeopardizing the Freedom of Speech that is such a fundamental right in this country.

Now, I am not a lawyer nor a student of the US Constitution.  My son is much more educated and gifted in these areas.  But my friend had a point that seriously has to be considered.  Half the country basically believes that it is horrible that the President of the United States can be censored like this.  The rest believe that it is about time someone cut him off from spewing incessant lies.  Which side is right?  Which side is wrong? 

A black and white view of the world is convenient.  You don’t have to think.  You simply accept whatever the point of view that you have chosen and get to react to circumstances and events from that perspective.  No further thought or analysis is needed.  Want proof?  Fox News or MSNBC have done it all for you and provide all the arguments you should need to agree with like-minded folks or to counter-punch those that don’t see your light.  From my perspective the information age of instant news done nothing more than create a system where we are all under the influence of and addiction to confirmation bias.

The problem with the black and white view of things is the world loves dish-up a lot of gray.  Gray looks white to half of us and gray looks black to the other.  It seems very few see gray and try to figure things out and draw their own conclusions

The events of January 6 and the impeachment in the House today had the First Amendment all gray and intertwined in it.  It is good to read what it says now and again:

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 freedom to speak our minds without fear is precious and fundamental.  The example often used to illustrate abuse is from Oliver Wendall Holmes:

The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic. [...] The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.

I am not going to tell you what to think.  You’ve seen the speech in question.  You decide if the words were “of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger.”

That’s all I want to say about it today.