The “Freedom” of Speech

This country was founded on, among other freedoms, the freedom of speech.  The ability to say you didn’t like the ruler (aka King George) and not have to worry about losing your head, literally.  Or to disagree with the local law enforcement without the fear of being arrested.

In other words, to speak your mind without fear of reprisal.

Except, in today’s electronic, totally connected, world, do you really have this freedom?

The news is full of stories of celebrities, and regular folks, who say something “controversial”, only to discover that they lose their jobs/shows/position.

My family believes in voting.  We voted every single time there was an election.  Billy has always been interested in politics.  Election night was right up there with Bowl Day for him.  When we married, we were on different ends of the political spectrum, which made things very interesting, to say the least.  When we moved to Natchez, a much smaller community than we had ever lived in, our political freedoms were tested on a new level.

Never, ever, had we been “sign” people.  Even growing up, we almost never put signs in our yard (probably because they would mess up Daddy’s grass), that I can remember.  Our political views were strong, but they were contained within 908 E 57th Place.  Billy and I never put up signs.  Probably a waste of space since we would cancel each other out.  But when we moved to Natchez I was told, muddily but still clearly, that because of my firm’s position in the community, publicly supporting one candidate over another in local elections was discouraged.  We audited or worked with many local governments – municipalities, counties, school districts, special districts – and if we supported the winning candidate then our continued work would be looked upon like a “favor” and impair our independence; to support the losing candidate would almost certainly cost us the work.

A lose-lose, if you will.

One local election, this caused some problems in our household.  Billy wanted to support a particular candidate, and had even told him (without my knowledge) that he could put a sign in our yard.   I came home from work that day with a different opinion.  It caused a quite a rift when I told Billy I didn’t want to do that.  It might have gone over better had I not given him the “why” – because my boss said not to.

As there were three candidates in the race, I couldn’t even acquiesce with a sign for the opposition and pretend that no one would know whom I supported.

So, did I have Freedom of Speech?  Sure.  That is guaranteed by the Constitution.  Would it have been smart to exercise that right, probably not.   Could I have been fired from my job for doing so, no.

Which circles me around to this question – in today’s world of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on, where is the line between work and personal?

I posed this question, in a way, during the NFL protests.  Many people believed the football players had a right to take a knee during the anthem in protest and it was fine.  It was their freedom of speech to express themselves this way.  Others took the stand that they were not protesting on their personal time but during work and that was not fine.  Work is work, personal life is personal life.

Employers do have a right to set behavior standards, same as they do dress codes or other policy and procedures or even morality clauses in contracts.  You accept the work on those terms and know it going in.  We recently had a situation where we had to remind our staff that their work email address is simply for that – work related communications.  To use it to share inappropriate jokes or political opinions or make personal comments to someone is not allowed.   Some even go so far as to say to do so is a “theft of company resources”.  When you send an email with our domain on it, it infers we, as as firm, are supporting whatever you have said.

But we are all connected, all the time, every day.  When I open my iPad and go to the email icon all 5 email accounts I have are right there is one place.  It would be easy to inadvertently use the work email instead of a personal one.   It is up to me to pay attention to what I’m doing.   If I post something on Facebook, even though it is my personal page, I am cognizant of the fact that everyone in Natchez knows where I work and that I am a business  owner in the community and I try to stay middle of the road, publicaly.  Just like growing up, my views on everything do not need to be broadcast to the entire world.  They can stay contained in the four walls of our home.

I raise these questions in light of the cancellation of Roseanne Barr’s rebooted show, “Roseanne”.  Top of the ratings, doing well with the audiences.  Then she uses her personal Twitter account and puts out an inappropriate tweet (no one can really dispute that point) and her show is cancelled.  She was fired from her job (along with her castmates) for something she did in her personal life.

Is that right?

 She wasn’t using corporate resources.  It didn’t happen on the set.  It was, technically, no different then if I tweeted out something from my house on my personal computer.  So, if I had sent that tweet should I be fired?  Most people would just say it was a stupid thing to do, and my partner would be very upset with me,  but I don’t think he would, or even could, terminate our agreement over it.

But we would both fear that the local community would find out and it could cost us business that way, which could ultimately lead to a change in my work status.  And that is how I think it should be.

If enough people were outraged by Roseanne’s comments then they would stop watching the show and ABC would have cancelled it anyway and the end result probably would have been the same, but the process would have been different.

Other shows, even shows on ABC, have had their stars make controversial comments and they were neither fired nor their shows cancelled.  And in one case, the offending comments were made on air, during the show.  Work life, not personal.

Is that right?

No football players were fired for kneeling, no teams were moved to other cities, no one was even disciplined, really, for expressing their views.   But someone else loses a job, and costs others their jobs on the show, just for making one stupid comment.


We live in a world with a lot of multiple standards.

And the lines are blurred in this digital age.  Are we ever “off” work?  Do we have a separate personal life at all?   Does what we do in one aspect of our lives always affect the other aspects?

I don’t know.

I know one solution is to “unplug”.  I have several very good friends that don’t post, tweet, like, love, favorite, or anything else.  Their digital footprint is minimal.

But I would miss so many of the people that I have caught up with over the years.  I am in touch with distant family and it makes me feel the right kind of “connected”.

In some ways, Life was easier when I was growing up, before the digital age.  But that is the topic of the next blog post.

 I think what I find the most troubling in all of this is the lack of clarity or consistency in what is wrong or right.  Offend Christians, nothing happens.  Offend Muslims or another religion or even an Atheist, you’re vilified.   Offend working class Americans, nothing happens.  Offend illegal immigrants, you’re a racist and an elitist.

How is that right?

We all have the same Freedom of Speech.  We all have the right to exercise it or not.  But we do not all bear the same repercussions when we do say something that someone else doesn’t like.

So, is speech really free?  Does it not sometimes come at a price?

I know the easy answer is let’s just all try to get along and quit with all the snapping and sniping and ugliness.  If no one ever made these inappropriate “jokes” or comments (that they all apologize for after the fact) or took a knee or burned a flag or any of these behaviors then we would not be having this conversation.

 It doesn’t mean you aren’t free to say it or do it, but maybe you can think of a better way to get your point across.

Think before you speak, post, tweet, snap, like, or hit send on that email.

I also know we don’t live in a kumbaya world and that will never happen.

But a girl can dream, can’t she?

Another freedom that really isn’t free.