Monthly Archives: February 2017

COLUMBIA In honor of the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, the Columbia Public Library will host a panel discussion on Monday examining how the First Amendment applies to modern-day America.

The event, "Examining Free Speech in the Digital Era," will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Monday in the Friends Room of the library. The library partnered with the League of Women Voters of Columbia-Boone County and the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy to assemble a panel of scholars to talk at the event.

Panelists include Adam Seagrave, the Kinder Institute associate professor of constitutional democracy and associateprofessor of political science at MU; Nicholas Drummond, the Kinder postdoctoral fellow in political science and Jim Robertson, the managing editor of the Columbia Daily Tribune.

Each of the panelists will speak briefly about a topic, and the audience will have an opportunity to ask questions, said Patricia Miller, adult services manager for the library.

"We try to use this as an opportunity to educate ourselves and educate everyone a little bit more about the Bill of Rights and what it says," Miller said. "This will be an opportunity to hear a little bit from the experts."

Seagrave will speak about how the meaning of "freedom of speech" has changed in a technologically-advanced nation, especially with social media usage. He will discuss how the principles outlined in the First Amendment apply today.

"In my opinion, quite a lot is the same, including much of what is most important, Seagrave said.

Drummond will explore how people decide what is truthful, according to a library flier about the event. People today are afraid to discuss topics they consider "too dangerous." Drummond will compare that to political philosopher John Stuart Mill's concept of openly sharing viewpoints to uncover the truth.

Robertson's will talk about journalism within the First Amendment, particularly the day-to-day challenges journalists face and how they can help to separate truth from disinformation.

The panel discussion will complement the librarys 225th anniversary display on the clay brick wall of the librarys first floor. The Columbia Public Library was one of 15 libraries selected by the Missouri Humanities Council and the National Archives to host this exhibit, which will continue until Feb. 28.

In addition to the exhibit, the library has had a childrens book display with materials pertaining to the Bill of Rights, and will be putting up a second display on the librarys second floor, Miller said.

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Columbia Public Library will host First Amendment event - Columbia Missourian

Wall Street Journal

Facts, Falsehoods and the First Amendment Wall Street Journal The First Amendment sky is not falling as a result of the recent decision of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals permitting climatologist Michael Mann's case to proceed against the National Review Online, despite the claims of NRO's attorneys ...

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Facts, Falsehoods and the First Amendment - Wall Street Journal

February is First Amendment month, and yes, I know that its kind of silly all of the months that we have. Some of them are quite good, like Black History Month, Great American Pie Month, (Im guessing that explains why the VC 4-H has its annual pie auction in February) National Heart Month, and National Macadamia Nut Month.

Can we all agree that the First Amendment is a good idea? In fact, its not just a good idea, its the bedrock foundation of our free society. Right up there with the Declaration of Independence.

And having said that, lets get this silly idea out of the way. The First Amendment says that Congress Shall Make No Laws that abridge the freedom of speech and the press. It doesnt make exceptions for hate speech (whatever THAT is!) or speech that makes you uncomfortable or speech that challenges your dogmas. The First Amendment was specifically designed to provide protection for people you loathe, people you detest and fear. It was invented to protect those who offend you the most. People who advocate dogs and cats living together, people who want to hum happy tunes using nothing but sharp notes, and, worst of all, people who eat purple vegetables.

This appears to be something that our colleges, which used to be hotbeds of freedom of speech, have forgotten. Berkeley University, which was the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement in the 1960s, obviously needs an enema of some sort now since these days its more the home of the Constipated Speech Movement. And spare me your emails. I know that they were protesting someone who is a provocateur, who loves to poke fun at various sacred notions and enjoys outraging people. Doesnt matter. He has the right to speak. His right to speak should certainly be defended from goons in black leotards wearing black masks and wielding iron batons to silence those they disagree with.

The late Justice Antonin Scalia wrote defenses of the right of people to burn the flag because it was protected by the First Amendment, even as he admitted that, if he were king, he would prefer to cut their heads off!

So, when you hear that people are not being allowed to speak somewhere because someone considers them to be the moral equivalent of Hitler, and that same someone beats up people, sets fires and destroys store fronts in the name of combating fascism, you may be forgiven for being skeptical. Fascism is as fascism does.

There was only one Hitler, and no one else even comes close. But some of us are trying.

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The First Amendment: Not just a good idea - Valley Roadrunner

These days, it seems like the First Amendment is under assault from all sides. President Trump has waged war with news outlets, called to strip citizenship from anyone who sets the American flag on fire, and vowed to broaden libel laws to thwart adversaries.

On college campuses, there has been a sharp rise in the use of trigger warnings, safe spaces and disinvitation protests which are, in turn, portrayed as attempts to suppress opposing viewpoints. Just last week,violence broke out at the University of California, Berkeley, in response to a scheduled speech by right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos.

But a different narrative is playing out in American high schools, where student support for First Amendment protections is the strongest its been in a decade, according to asurvey released this week by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes First Amendment protections and press freedom.

(More from The 74: School Bullying, Civic Engagement and the First Amendment in Donald Trumps America)

Of 11,998 students from 31 public and private high schools nationwide who participated in the survey, 91 percent agreed that people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions, an increase from 83 percent in 2004.

High school teachers are even more likely to support the First Amendment than their students. Of 726 high school teachers surveyed, 95 percent supported the right to express unpopular opinions, a slight decrease from 97 percent in 2004.

But as with any survey of this nature, language matters. Changing the word unpopular to offensive decreased support for free speech from 91 percent to 45 percent among students and from 95 percent to 53 percent among teachers.

Its important to understand the attitudes and perceptions of future generations, because theyre the ones who will ultimately be shaping norms, and norms often have sway on policy and the way the First Amendment is protected, said Jon Sotsky, the Knight Foundations director for strategy and assessment. Its very important to understand how these attitudes are shifting.

Despite the rise in student acceptance for free speech protections, Richard Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame who focuses on First Amendment issues, found the surveys results to be more glass half empty. He said he was troubled by a disconnect between young adults and an American tradition in which the remedy for offensive speech is more speech rather than censorship.

The irony, Id imagine all these high school kids in the survey, if you asked them, Are you for or against diversity, theyd be like, Oh, we love diversity, Garnett said. Well, if youre for diversity, you cant be for censoring stuff that offends you. Thats a two plus two equals five kind of thing.

Beyond perceptions of free speech protections, the Knight Foundation report offered a glimpse into student media consumption. While its no surprise that young adults receive most of their news on mobile devices through social media platforms like Twitter, the report found that students who actively engage with news on social media have stronger support for First Amendment freedoms. And while Americans trust in news is at all-time lows, students were far more likely than their teachers to consider information posted by everyday individuals more trustworthy than content from professional journalists.

High school students are also far less likely than adults to be concerned about privacy. While Sotsky noted that most kids dont have financial privacy concerns, such as credit card numbers, he observed that students, who have grown up in the digital age, are more likely to share personal information.

The surveys were conducted from March to June 2016. They have a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point for students and plus or minus 4 points for teachers.

Excerpt from:
First Amendment Is Strong at Nation's High Schools: 91% of Students, 95% of Teachers Back Free Speech - The 74