Martin Luther King Jr. spoke over 50 years ago “I have a dream”, and that dream was for all of us to live in harmony where people are judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. On April 4th, 1968 King was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
Is there really a freedom of speech?
Let’s debate. Who should decide what books kids can read in schools? Do parents have a say? Public schools where parents do not have a say or vouchers for private school? Are there only two sexes? It’s confusing these days. Some on the far left believe in reparations for injuries to their ancestors. The far right would say existing laws bar the government from taking race or ancestry into consideration for compensatory programs. Merit based promotions or DEI quotas? Everybody has a position.
The right to debate facts in an open setting is the life blood of a democracy. The ability to agree and disagree allows for competing views. The best ideas will gravitate to the top. In a pure world, in this imaginary democracy, there is a freedom of speech. But, in 2025 America you could still get killed for speaking to the ‘other side’ in an open debate forum, and or ‘punished’ for making an off-color joke.
Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air for a line in a monologue. Charlie Kirk was assassinated for promoting free speech through dialog. You do not have to agree with Kimmel or Kirk but getting punished or killed for your thoughts and words is not free speech.
In West Hollywood you used to be able to go up to the public comment podium at any city council meeting and scream anything you want. Then one commenter screamed a lot of things that nobody wanted to hear. In response, the progressive city council adopted new rules of decorum to limit that freedom of speech. For 40 years public commenters could rant and rave at the city council without repercussions until now. Hows that for the progressive city?
It is disgusting, abhorrent, reprehensible that big Washington law firms buckled and coughed up hundreds of millions of dollars to curry favor for government contracts and to appease the President. Media companies have paid tens of millions of dollars to get pending mergers approved. Corporations have buckled under the pressure to play ball or suffer.
What happened to the 1st amendment that gives every single American the right to speak freely? It’s lost. It’s lost right here in West Hollywood watching many of you who celebrate Charlie Kirk’s death or getting more upset about Jimmy Kimmel off the air for a few days than the guy who got shot dead promoting freedom of speech. I’m disappointed to witness so much hate from those who preach love.
You don’t have to like Kirk. His brand of conservatism isn’t much different than many of our uncle and aunts, or parents on the right. Too bad for him if he wanted to save it for marriage. King and Kirk both believed and spoke to the same things, – a merit-based society where people are judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin tone.
Charlie did not deserve to die for legitimate peaceful advocacy. If Charlie can die for that what is left for the rest of us?
Our city council did not take the opportunity to discuss the tragedy of Kirk’s death. They didn’t say a word. Our city council did not use its platform to speak against the violence, on a night when they declared West Hollywood a non-violent city. Even our city council is afraid to speak and piss off some of their supporters.
This ‘paper’ is a platform for free speech but we get ridiculed too, – retaliated against and threatened, Retaliated against over and over, in more ways then can ever be explained. Believe me, speech is not free. We pay a price everyday to pursue a dream of righteousness. A dream inspired at a young age when a man who shared my birthday, Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated for having a dream and inspiring others to believe in it too.
Fifty plus years later little has changed. FREE SPEECH could cost you your job, or your life. FREE SPEECH is an ideal. FREE SPEECH is still a dream.
“But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
Good article. Brass tacks is WeHo is full of snowflake, Karen progressives. Everything is an issue for these people. As a moderate I view them as basically the lefts version of MAGA. Progressives don’t believe in freedoms of speech or even rational debate. They’d rather have endless discussions about how “micro aggressions” mean everyone is racist.
The first amendment prohibits Congress from making laws that infringe on the freedoms of religion, speech, the press, the right to assemble peacefully, and the right to petition the government. Has Congress made laws that infringe on the freedom of speech? I didn’t see the word “Congress” anywhere in your letter. With that in mind, your letter makes no sense. The Weho City Council is not Congress. Jimmy Kimmel’s boss isn’t Congress. The man who killed Martin Luther King isn’t Congress. The guys who killed Charlie Kirk isn’t Congress. You are not Congress. Sure, you have the right to say… Read more »
Where was the Op-Ed when Biden’s people were pressuring social media companies to suppress information and individuals who didn’t see eye to eye with the administration? It’s well documented that Joe’s staff was meeting regularly with folks at Twitter and Google. Oh, and Zuck admitted it. But tell me more about a “comedian” who was off the air for 4 nights.
Well said OpEd and a wakeup call to push back on/call out those who deliberately lie or distort facts in the public square, especially on a national broadcasting network. We all love the entertainment industry, The Business as it is often referred to, but does their platform and those with in it have a different or superior right to free speech than others? In this case, it seems that many of them believe that they do have that right. This false “right” encourages them to speak out without the need to check facts. The result can produce a feeling in… Read more »
The core issue, at least to me, seems to be that social media not only gives everyone a platform, the algorithms create a dangerous “Mob Mentality” on both sides, all in the name of profit. I don’t believe in censorship and while social media has numerous benefits, it also has some truly lethal consequences. Perhaps both sides can agree on cutting back their social media use, devaluing these tech companies and demanding that algorithms be modified so they are less divisive. Our country cannot continue in this direction but that takes real, intelligent, humane leadership to turn around. I also… Read more »
This is one of the most important topics this outlet has ever addressed. The right to speak freely without government interference, coercion, manipulation or threat is fundamental to our shared culture and the idea of representative democracy. The right to petition OUR government (at all levels) is also a basic First Amendment right and one often lost on the city council dais which reacts with nasty invective hurled at critics. Newbies on the council fail to comprehend the oath they took to support and defend the Constitution. It is shameful.
Kimmel has the right to free speech. Kimmel has free speech. Kimmel does not have his own broadcast company. He can say whatever he wants, but he doesn’t own the platform in which he was saying it on. With ratings deteriorating and him lying about a situation at a very sensitive time, the public didn’t want to hear it and so his broadcasters took away the platform they gave him -their platform. If Kimmel wants to shout his free speech to a national audience, then Mr. Kimmel needs to spend his millions of dollars and buy a broadcast company.
I almost completely agree with you, except for the part of this story that involves heavy-handed government coercion and the quid pro quo results/payback of corporations doing trump’s bidding. That’s where it becomes an infringement of First Amendment rights.
If you’re the president and EVERY DAY you are being called names like fascist, Nazi, Hitler, and being accused of ending democracy, and have had two attempts on your life, and have watched others killed or have had attempts on their life who are close to your ideology, when the collective of all this constantly inciting of violence suggests the violence is going to increase, and with the “law of averages” likely at some point going to hit their intended target, wouldn’t you call for those who are doing the name calling and making meritless accusations to stop it? Trump… Read more »
I think inciting violence crosses the line for what could be called a First Amendment right.
First off, the only book censorship in schools are books that are not age-appropriate. Books that were removed from primary elementary schools can now be found in high schools. And books that were clearly pornographic that have no academic value have been removed. Parents have read from these books at school board meetings and were stopped by the school board because of their graphic content that was too much for the adults in the room. The free speech that is being curbed is speech that incites violence. Calling someone a Nazi or Hitler or Gov. Tim Walz (recent VP candidate)… Read more »
Amen
100% AGREE!!!! LGB needs a divorce. The T+ is “dragging” us down. Want to dress up as the opposite sex, fine. Want to promote f’ing up your physicality, NOPE. Keep the LGB out of this. LGB got hijacked. What happened to cross dressers? That has been a tradition since Sheakspeare. No problem. Stay away from the kids. Realize that BIG PHARMA SEES YOU AS AN ANNUITY. The books need to be banned from children. Common sense. IMO, Kimmel is not funny. Alligator tears. I did not watch to not give him viewership. Let’s not forget his BLACK FACE & HUMPING… Read more »