To say that our freedoms have been taken for granted would be an understatement, and because of that, I feel that many of them have been perverted to serve the purposes of the nefarious, or at least, notorious kind.
Take two of my favorites — speech, which is essentially the medium by which I convey my missives, and a free press, which I’m currently using as a career (even though it’s pure-D enjoyment to perform).
Many of us remember that time during the campaign, when everyone and their social media dog were excoriating now President-Elect Donald Trump as a Nazi, which includes the so-called experts in the media. Every one of us should also remember that as a result of the constant haranguing and name-calling, the results.
Meaning that not once, but twice, someone had tried to take the life of the president.
In the aftermath, there were many missives about how he deserved it and people lamented that the shooter’s aim was off. Sure, there were many people who spoke out against the shooting, as well as against the hideous things people were saying, but nothing really of consequence happened (unless you count the cancellation of the Tenacious D tour).
Last week, that ante was raised with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was gunned down in a targeted attack. While the motive isn’t known yet, there were certain words inscribed on the shell casings of the bullets used that point to a concern over health insurance.
The reaction of people was even more despicable, with people commenting, some of them with media platforms, that it was impossible to feel any sympathy or offer any condolences because of the anywhere from 40,000 to 68,000 people who have died because of the lack of health insurance, or at the very least, being denied lifesaving coverages.
The very essence of freedom means that these things can be said and cannot be stopped. While that, on the face of it, is essentially sad, but …
It doesn’t mean that anything can be said. It doesn’t mean that lies and vile statements carry no consequences. I’m all in on free speech and free press but lies do not count.
There are civil laws that protect people from these things, and several events in the past few months have indicated that people are getting mad as, well, you know, and aren’t going to take it anymore.
For instance, the execrable Sunny Hostin, host of The View, after disparaging Matt Gaetz over a case the DOJ had dropped, was forced to read a disclaimer on the air because of it. Kash Patel, a nominee for the FBI top slot, has threatened a suit against some commentator over her defamatory statements regarding Patel’s former work with Vice President Mike Pence.
The social platform X has ramped up the use of community notes, holding people’s feet to the fire for unsubstantiated statements and outright lies.
Hopefully, if more and more people get tough when lies are spread verbally (slander) or in print (libel), then organizations, including the media, will become slightly more circumspect with their positing and hew closer to the truth. (That goes for us, too; if we misstep, let us know, and we’ll set it right.)
Civil, truthful discourse will only help social and political disagreements easier to settle, and that’s the truth.
Tony Farkas is editor of the Trinity County News-Standard and the San Jacinto News-Times. He writes opinion articles and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of this paper. He can be reached at tony@polkcountypublishing.com.