{"id":74,"date":"2002-09-20T09:08:37","date_gmt":"2002-09-20T12:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/?p=74"},"modified":"2002-09-20T09:08:37","modified_gmt":"2002-09-20T12:08:37","slug":"the-first-amendment-for-dummies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Amendment for dummies."},"content":{"rendered":"

(Does this sound like anyone you know? I can think of at least five people off the top of my head….)<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “Dammit to hell, this ‘Freedom of Speech’ stuff is bullshit. We don’t have it!”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “Sure we do.”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “Everytime I open my mouth, someone attacks me in my comments.”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “Well, they have freedom of speech too, remember?”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “It’s not RIGHT!!!!”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “Yeah, that “freedom” stuff is a bitch, ain’t it?”
\n
\nIdiot<\/u>:<\/b> “I have the right to say anything I want, it’s in the First Amendment.”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “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.<\/i>”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “What the hell is that?”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “The First Amendment.<\/a> You were just talking about it, remember?”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “I never saw that before…”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “I’m not surprised. Everyone rambles on about the First Amendment, yet no one has a clue what it actually says.”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “But it just says Congress wont make any laws stopping me, where’s the part that says I can run around and be an asshole, and no one can touch me????”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “It doesn’t. Having a driver’s license doesn’t give you the right to run over anyone you want, does it?”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “Yeah, well, newspapers throw up their ‘Freedom of Speech’ everytime someone tries to stop them, and it works.”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “That’s ‘Freedom of the Press<\/a>‘ you don’t have that. You’re not the media, you’re just an idiot with a weblog.”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “Oh you see??!!?? There you go again. You can’t come up with anything intelligent to say so you start with the name calling and insults!!!”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “That’s not an insult. Just a personal observation.”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “I can sue you for that, it’s slander!”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “No it’s in print so it would be libel<\/a>, not slander<\/a>. But it’s neither, since I have proof you’re an idiot. If you want to shell out a few thousand dollars, travel back and forth to my home state for a few months and try to sue me, rather than show a little restraint every once in in a while, then you have more time on your hands than I do. Of course, since you obviously have no clue what you’re talking about, what your rights *REALLY* are, and what legal term applies, I find it safe to assume you don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell.”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “Dammit, if you don’t like what I say, don’t read my site.”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “If you don’t like what I say, don’t go to my site, and comment on your site about it.”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “I can comment anywhere I damn well please!”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “So can everyone else then. What do you have comments on your weblog for, anyway? You seem to be able to dish it out, but you can’t take it.”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “For people to comment on my posts and exhange ideas.”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “Bullshit, it’s for people to tell you you’re right and agree with you, you constanly bitch and\/or delete all of the entries that call you on your crap, ‘cuz you’re an idiot.”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “Then I’ll sue you for libel”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “And for all those thousands of dollars you’ll shell out, what will you gain? You can’t ask for monetary damage unless you’ve lost revenue from this. And like I said, I have proof you’re an idiot.”<\/p>\n

Idiot<\/u>:<\/b> “Oh really???? And what evidence do you supposedly have?”<\/p>\n

Me<\/u>:<\/b> “This conversation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Does this sound like anyone you know? I can think of at least five people off the top of my head….)<\/p>\n

Idiot: 'Dammit to hell, this 'Free…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-old-skewl"],"yoast_head":"\nThe First Amendment for dummies. - SoApBoX<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The First Amendment for dummies. - SoApBoX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Does this sound like anyone you know? I can think of at least five people off the top of my head....) 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