It’s been nearly 80 years since FDR made his infamous
“Four Freedoms” speech (his 1941 SOTU). You may recall
that Roosevelt listed four “freedoms" -
- Freedom of speech,
- Freedom of worship,
- Freedom from want, and
- Freedom from fear.
Let’s take ‘em one at a time – we’ll do the
first two in this post.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH – I would say we’ve got this, but there are many who would
disagree. Problem is, they really don’t understand
the communicative process, and they also confuse this with the First Amendment,
which merely prohibits the government’s restrictions on speech.
You can say whatever you want to say. Period.
Well, OK, there are a few restrictions (see: fire in a crowded theater). But what’s not covered here is private
entities restricting what goes on within those private entities. If you want to rant about subject “A” and
write a 1000-word essay for your local paper’s “Letters to The Editor” and
there’s a 500-word limit, guess what’s going to happen?
Now, take this concept to social media. Remember those agreements you (mindlessly) clicked
“OK” to when you signed up? Same issue –
when you break your “terms of service” your speech might become restricted. YOU AGREED TO THE RULES. Break ‘em and pay the consequences.
And that’s the other part about “Freedom of
Speech” that people gripe about but don’t comprehend. You say what you want, and others are free to
do likewise. And if there are consequences
for your speech, so be it. You say
racist things and it gets captured on TikTok and your employer finds out about
it…well, unless you’re in law enforcement, there’s a good chance you’ll face
some disciplinary action for that speech.
Hope it was worth it.
FREEDOM OF WORSHIP – Here again I think we’re doing OK (like a heathen would
know this, right?). Back in the day, our
Founding Fathers whipped up that First Amendment to protect this freedom and
the one mentioned above:
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.
Of
course, the concern then was the ability to practice any Protestant religion of
your choosing, Jews and Catholics were not much of a concern and few worried
about Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. But today folks are free to worship however
they please, or, as I am thankful for, to not worship at all.
But,
here again some folks feel persecuted (and they always use that word, having
the previous religious context as if that adds some weight). Thanks to COVID some services are limited in
size, or they’re online only, and other restrictions may apply. There have been lawsuits galore and much misplaced
anger because of these restrictions which are merely intended to keep people safe
and alive.
You
know what people used to do when they felt like their religious liberty was at
risk? THEY MOVED. Packed it all up and went…well,
surprise! They moved here to
America.
If
you feel like you’re not getting to practice your religion as intended (and you’re
not since I don’t see anyone doing the burnt offering thing), perhaps you’d
better pack the U-Haul and move to one of the Dakotas or Florida, where you’re
free to cluster as tight as you want indoors and sing and move about with total
abandon. Knock yourself out.
Literally.
These
two Freedoms are doing pretty well – next time we’ll discuss the other two,
which are taking quite a beating. Stay
safe and well.
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