People really do not understand the First Amendment. Just because you can say whatever you want, does not mean that you are completely free from the consequences of your comments. Therefore, harassment is not free speech. If you verbally threaten and harass the parents of the victims of a mass shooting at an elementary school, then you probably deserve whatever consequences are thrown your way.
Last Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out an appeal by conspiracy theorist Sandy Hook, denier and all-around nut job, Alex Jones. He appealed for the sanctions placed on him and his show by the Connecticut Supreme Court in a 2019 decision. The case focused on defamation against Jones by the relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Barely three months ago, I wrote an article saying that domestic terrorism is not protected by the First Amendment when Jim Jordan, a representative from Ohio, claimed the impeachment of former president Donald Trump on the grounds of inciting violence and insurgency is a part of “cancel culture” and a violation of the First Amendment. Jordan’s claims are historically and legally wrong, but when have far right nationalists ever cared about the truth? They would rather spout conspiracy theories about Satanic cannibal cults or chemicals in the water that turn the frogs gay.
American politics have become a cesspool of lies and conspiracies that fuel far right extremism. As these conspiracies gain more traction and become more mainstream, the fools that spout them gain entry to government positions and have even made their way into the U.S. capitol building — and I am not just talking about the ones that broke into the capitol building on Jan. 6. Take, for instance, Georgian Representative and QAnon conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene, who, aside from believing in Jewish space lasers and Satanic cannibal cults, went full “Alex Jones” and harassed the victims of the Parkland shooting.
Greene claimed that maybe having “good guys with guns” in schools would make people feel safer. Trust me, it does not. I was a senior in the Broward County School system when the Parkland shooting happened, and starting the next day, my school had an officer from the Broward Sheriff’s Office walking around with a military grade assault weapon around campus. It did not make anyone feel safe, and it especially did not make us feel safe when we learned that the man carrying around the giant gun supported the same nonsense that Greene does.
We cannot continue to let these ideas foster and spread. The more of a foothold they gain, the less important that truth and facts become in our society. Conspiracy theories and lies cannot be what we base our beliefs on moving forward, and it most certainly cannot be what we base legislation off of either.
