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Health & Fitness

The Day Opposes Free Speech

I always thought newspapers and media organizations would vigorously defend the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution but I was wrong when I read a Jan. 21 editorial by The Day newspaper suggesting limits to our ability to voice our opinions.

Their Jan. 21 editorial claims “misguided miscreants sometimes try to wield the First Amendment like a cudgel instead of a shield, improperly insisting that such constitutional privilege applies to all self-expression, no matter how hateful or vile.”

The editorial comes out after the release of a photo of New London Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio on the Whale Tales Facebook page depicted him as Adolf Hitler. 

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“The Day deplores such contemptible characterizations and share Mr. Finizio’s outrage upon learning of the posting.” 

They quote Finizio who wrote on his Facebook page that “this kind of venomous political discourse poisons our community. Comparisons to Nazi-ism are clearly outside the boundaries of acceptable behavior.” 

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You can read more from The Day’s original article on Jan. 20 and my editorial in Patch on Jan. 21. 

The Day went as far as saying that the only “proper response” page maintainer Kathleen Mitchell could have given was a “we’re sorry and it won’t happen again”. 

I believe The Day backed the mayor for political reasons, perhaps if it was a Republican getting bashed, they would have looked the other way. 

If The Day doesn’t feel this is covered by the First Amendment, than do they believe there should be civil or criminal penalties imposed on those who “cross the line”? Perhaps Congress should rewrite the First Amendment with a “but” and list types of speech that should not be protected under the Constitution? 

It’s a slippery slope to suggest there are limits to people’s freedoms to express their opinion. If we follow the newspaper’s advice, it won’t be long before people will be afraid to express their opinion for fear it will have “crossed” the line. 

The Day featured no commentaries in the Jan. 22 edition from those opposed to their editorial. I’m sure there were people who took issue with their stance but the paper chose to silence those voices. 

Even David Collins column in Jan. 22 tried to define to his readers that “a healthy and thriving political arena where people can comfortably spar on both sides of an issue is perhaps one of the city’s strengths.”

In other words, let’s be politically correct and never say something that someone could find offensive.

That’s my opinion and I’d like to hear yours. 


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