Writing Prompt: Freedom of Speech and Press
Posted by zoeforce on January 28, 2009
Was President Obama right to come out and tell the public to stop listening to Rush Limbaugh? What does this say about his fear of criticism? Is he really that paranoid? What does this say about his opinion on the intellect of Americans?
Something to think about:
John Milton, 17th Century Poet said, “Let all with something to say be free to express themselves. The true and sound will survive. The false and unsound will be vanquished. Government should keep out of the battle and not weigh the odds in favor of one side or the other “. His principles of the “self-righting process” and “open marketplace of ideas” were promoted by Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson took it to heart and argued that, “any government which can not stand up to published criticism deserves to fall”.-1 Further Thomas Jefferson who was highly scrutinized by the press said, “The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.” –Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787. ME 6:57″. -2
Sources:
1- Terror on the internet, The New Arena, the New Challenges; Gabriel Weimann. 2006. Chap. 7 Balancing Security and Civil Liberties, pg. 232. also available online for preview: http://books.google.com/books?id=19iCbNOoYmIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Thomas+Jefferson+a+government+that+could+not+stand+up+under+criticism+deserved+to+fall&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPP1,M1
2- Thomas Jefferson on Politics & Government- Freedom of the Press: http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1600.htm
