{"id":474,"date":"2002-09-20T09:08:37","date_gmt":"2002-09-20T12:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/?p=474"},"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\/whuzzup\/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 'Freed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,20,11,28,2,16,12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-as-the-web-burns","category-attention-trolls","category-basic-stupidity","category-humor","category-old-stuff","category-political-cannon-fodder","category-pure-unadulterated-stupidity","category-e-show"],"yoast_head":"\nThe First Amendment for dummies. - WHUZZUP!<\/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\/whuzzup\/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. - WHUZZUP!\" \/>\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....) Idiot: &apos;Dammit to hell, this &apos;Freed...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WHUZZUP!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EricBrooksDotComWeb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2002-09-20T12:08:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eric Brooks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EricBrooksCom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EricBrooksCom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eric Brooks\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Eric Brooks\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3addcc1e092289f4bb7dbdaf170c2123\"},\"headline\":\"The First Amendment for dummies.\",\"datePublished\":\"2002-09-20T12:08:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":602,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"As The Web Burns\",\"Attention Trolls\u2122\",\"Basic Stupidity\",\"Humor\",\"Old Stuff\",\"Political Cannon Fodder\",\"Pure, unadulterated stupidity\",\"The -=e=- Show\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\\\/\",\"name\":\"The First Amendment for dummies. - WHUZZUP!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2002-09-20T12:08:37+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The First Amendment for dummies.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/\",\"name\":\"WHUZZUP!\",\"description\":\"What's new at EricBrooks.Com plus news and gossip all over CyberTown\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"WHUZZUP!\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/images\\\/posts\\\/cropped-favicon_64-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/images\\\/posts\\\/cropped-favicon_64-1.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"WHUZZUP!\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/EricBrooksDotComWeb\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/EricBrooksCom\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ericbrooksdotcom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/ericbrooksdotcom\",\"https:\\\/\\\/myspace.com\\\/ericbrooksdotcom\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pinterest.com\\\/ericbrookscom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ericbrooksdotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3addcc1e092289f4bb7dbdaf170c2123\",\"name\":\"Eric Brooks\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/62114f8baf9a3737e7686125b69907010ad6aff5dfc07c12707e8a18bb49bc34?s=96&d=blank&r=x\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/62114f8baf9a3737e7686125b69907010ad6aff5dfc07c12707e8a18bb49bc34?s=96&d=blank&r=x\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/62114f8baf9a3737e7686125b69907010ad6aff5dfc07c12707e8a18bb49bc34?s=96&d=blank&r=x\",\"caption\":\"Eric Brooks\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/author\\\/eric-brooks\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The First Amendment for dummies. - WHUZZUP!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The First Amendment for dummies. - WHUZZUP!","og_description":"(Does this sound like anyone you know? I can think of at least five people off the top of my head....) Idiot: 'Dammit to hell, this 'Freed...","og_url":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/","og_site_name":"WHUZZUP!","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EricBrooksDotComWeb\/","article_published_time":"2002-09-20T12:08:37+00:00","author":"Eric Brooks","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EricBrooksCom","twitter_site":"@EricBrooksCom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eric Brooks","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/"},"author":{"name":"Eric Brooks","@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/#\/schema\/person\/3addcc1e092289f4bb7dbdaf170c2123"},"headline":"The First Amendment for dummies.","datePublished":"2002-09-20T12:08:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/"},"wordCount":602,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/#organization"},"articleSection":["As The Web Burns","Attention Trolls\u2122","Basic Stupidity","Humor","Old Stuff","Political Cannon Fodder","Pure, unadulterated stupidity","The -=e=- Show"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/","url":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/","name":"The First Amendment for dummies. - WHUZZUP!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/#website"},"datePublished":"2002-09-20T12:08:37+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/the-first-amendment-for-dummies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The First Amendment for dummies."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/","name":"WHUZZUP!","description":"What's new at EricBrooks.Com plus news and gossip all over CyberTown","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/#organization","name":"WHUZZUP!","url":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/images\/posts\/cropped-favicon_64-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/images\/posts\/cropped-favicon_64-1.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"WHUZZUP!"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EricBrooksDotComWeb\/","https:\/\/x.com\/EricBrooksCom","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ericbrooksdotcom\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/ericbrooksdotcom","https:\/\/myspace.com\/ericbrooksdotcom","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/ericbrookscom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ericbrooksdotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/#\/schema\/person\/3addcc1e092289f4bb7dbdaf170c2123","name":"Eric Brooks","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62114f8baf9a3737e7686125b69907010ad6aff5dfc07c12707e8a18bb49bc34?s=96&d=blank&r=x","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62114f8baf9a3737e7686125b69907010ad6aff5dfc07c12707e8a18bb49bc34?s=96&d=blank&r=x","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62114f8baf9a3737e7686125b69907010ad6aff5dfc07c12707e8a18bb49bc34?s=96&d=blank&r=x","caption":"Eric Brooks"},"url":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/author\/eric-brooks\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}