Free opinion vs. free speech

The Duluth News Tribune ran a Pro/Con about free speech and climate change.  The Con was an article by H. Sterling Burnett of the Heartland Institute.  He claimed that climate change deniers should be protected by the First Amendment: the right of free speech.  I think he seriously misreads the Constitution and established law.

According to him, we should all be free to yell “Fire” in a crowded theater.  According to him, there should be no libel laws to prosecute those who slander another.

He somehow conflates opinion with lying.

I could say H. Sterling Burnett is a jerk, and all he could do would be to refute my statement.  He could not take me to court for my statement.  On the other hand, if I said that H. Sterling Burnett embezzled the Heartland Institute of $100,000 when he did not, then he has every right to deny me my “free speech rights” and take me to court for slander.

Check out what Wikipedia has to say about The Heartland Institute.  Among other nefarious activities they worked with " Philip Morris to question or deny the health risks of secondhand smoke and to lobby against smoking bans”.  So, if an organization denies the dangers of smoking, should we believe them when they claim there is no climate change?  They are not stating an opinion; they are lying to the public for the benefit of their paymasters.

His article was only published by two newspapers that I could find.

http://www.thegleaner.com/opinion/deniers-have-a-right-to-voice-their-opinions-3011c156-e057-4103-e053-0100007f3587-375715371.html
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/national-view/4017028-procon-should-climate-change-deniers-be-prosecuted

I hope most other papers had the common sense not to do so.

The climate scientists are the fire marshals telling theater owners there should be no smoking in their theaters.  The climate change deniers are the owners who insist their free speech rights are being denied if they can’t tell their customers there is no problem.  Guess who will be successfully prosecuted when one of those crowded theaters catches fire?

Protesting is great, but voting is better

Google, Wikipedia, and others did a great job of mobilizing people to protest SOPA and PIPA.

It would be even better if they mobilize people to vote in November. Not support any candidate, but just get people to show up and vote.

I sent feedback to Google and Wikimedia about this. I hope you will do the same and encourage your friends to do the same. We have to stop "landslides" of less than half the eligible voters.

Be the demōs in democracy!

Vote!

Please pass this entry to your friends. It's URL is http://magree.blogspot.com/2012/01/protesting-is-great-but-voting-is.html

My WikiQuote unquoted

I checked on my WikiQuote entry that I wrote about in "If you can read this, thank a teacher".  It was denied.  I won't go into the reasons why here.  I don't know if I'll give it another try or not.  At least not this week.