These are issues that are only connected by the fact that our administration is enabling them, but presently if we lose the 1st amendment we will lose everything because our very knowledge that those other two issues exist is because of our constitution.
If we lose the 1st amendment we will lose everything because our very knowledge that those other two issues exist is because of our constitution.
Which is why no country outside the USA has free speech, truth, or media that is in any way connected to reality.
We’re all just bumbling around in the epistemological darkness, relying on the USA for information about our own countries, wishing we had a first amendment too so we had a media landscape.
Alternative perspective: truth, freedom, and communication are inherent to the human existence. They exist outside the US constitution. If your government decides to rip up all your laws, it won’t suddenly be ok to run amok murdering and stealing (which is why there are countries outside the USA where the citizens survive).
A lot of Americans seem to have a kind of cargo cult idea of human rights and laws. They do not exist because they are written in the constitution. The constitution has no value outside the rights it contains, and the antique paper. It does not create or contain free speech, it doesn’t even guarantee it, it merely documents a broad consensus of values.
I personally think a lot of Americans would understand a lot more about the world, and their own country, if they realised that. Your constitution doesn’t give you anything, any more than a shopping list has nutritional value or an inventory guarantees your furniture.
TLDR: I don’t know if it’s a phrasing thing or an actual misconception among Americans, but saying the first amendment ‘gives you’ free speech is a really dangerous mindset.
It’s like saying, the first rule in my instance on Lemmy is ‘don’t be a dick’ so if they delete that rule or, God forbid, the instance / Lemmy gets shut down, the entire world will just run around being dicks.
No.
You should behave in moral ways because it’s the right thing to do, not because it’s written down. Anybody who stops obeying a repealed law didn’t want to obey it in the first place. The vast majority of the world is out there not being dicks, despite not being part of your online instance.
You are human, you have rights and responsibilities as a human, not just as an American. You do not have rights because of the constitution: the constitution is only valid because, and as long as, the citizens agree with what it says.
(Also you guys have been killing people for saying things like ‘I kinda think black people deserve rights’ and ‘hey guys look at this pharma company’s accounts’, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise that your constitution isn’t a magic force amulet against all wrong. It’s an old terms and conditions document that’s not always enforced)
It’s not something that is won or lost. It’s a policy that is implemented or not.
This administration is unequivocally refusing to implement 1st amendment rights (like, all of them, not just speech). That doesn’t change until the people running the county change. But it also doesn’t mean the 1A is “gone”. It’s still right where it always was.
These are issues that are only connected by the fact that our administration is enabling them, but presently if we lose the 1st amendment we will lose everything because our very knowledge that those other two issues exist is because of our constitution.
Which is why no country outside the USA has free speech, truth, or media that is in any way connected to reality. We’re all just bumbling around in the epistemological darkness, relying on the USA for information about our own countries, wishing we had a first amendment too so we had a media landscape.
Alternative perspective: truth, freedom, and communication are inherent to the human existence. They exist outside the US constitution. If your government decides to rip up all your laws, it won’t suddenly be ok to run amok murdering and stealing (which is why there are countries outside the USA where the citizens survive).
A lot of Americans seem to have a kind of cargo cult idea of human rights and laws. They do not exist because they are written in the constitution. The constitution has no value outside the rights it contains, and the antique paper. It does not create or contain free speech, it doesn’t even guarantee it, it merely documents a broad consensus of values.
I personally think a lot of Americans would understand a lot more about the world, and their own country, if they realised that. Your constitution doesn’t give you anything, any more than a shopping list has nutritional value or an inventory guarantees your furniture.
TLDR: I don’t know if it’s a phrasing thing or an actual misconception among Americans, but saying the first amendment ‘gives you’ free speech is a really dangerous mindset. It’s like saying, the first rule in my instance on Lemmy is ‘don’t be a dick’ so if they delete that rule or, God forbid, the instance / Lemmy gets shut down, the entire world will just run around being dicks. No.
You should behave in moral ways because it’s the right thing to do, not because it’s written down. Anybody who stops obeying a repealed law didn’t want to obey it in the first place. The vast majority of the world is out there not being dicks, despite not being part of your online instance. You are human, you have rights and responsibilities as a human, not just as an American. You do not have rights because of the constitution: the constitution is only valid because, and as long as, the citizens agree with what it says.
(Also you guys have been killing people for saying things like ‘I kinda think black people deserve rights’ and ‘hey guys look at this pharma company’s accounts’, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise that your constitution isn’t a magic force amulet against all wrong. It’s an old terms and conditions document that’s not always enforced)
It’s not something that is won or lost. It’s a policy that is implemented or not.
This administration is unequivocally refusing to implement 1st amendment rights (like, all of them, not just speech). That doesn’t change until the people running the county change. But it also doesn’t mean the 1A is “gone”. It’s still right where it always was.