The Only Dangerous Speech is that...

... which has been Banned or Punished by the Government.

As your humble Blogger has stated freely, the First Amendment is Numero Uno for a Good Reason. Too many have sacrificed too much for anyone to seek to diminish our citizenry's right to speak fully and fervently 24/7/365.

Accordingly, here is my homily (not a eulogy "Unwashed" Tom) on unfettered speech rights:

"And meanwhile, you're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us all w/. all kinds of content and exposes us to all kind of arguments, some of which don't rank that high on the truth meter. ... " [Therefore, the degrees you are to be awarded today by this great University will be your safe harbor as you navigate this immense ocean of good and bad information. Your education has empowered you to shop skillfully in this chaotic marketplace of ideas, finding and valuing truth, while rejecting the falsehoods, lies and canards of fools. Our democracy tolerates all kinds of "wrong" speech, because any government intervention is rightfully banned by the Constitution. You must be your own judge of the worth of the ideas out there in the real world. I know you will succeed, because of your four years of diligent studies that we are celebrating today.] Excerpted from President Obama's May 9th Commencement Address at Hampton University. My additions shown by [brackets].

Here is the President's actual, complete statement on the marketplace of ideas: "... information becomes a distraction, a diversion rather than a tool of empowerment. Its putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy."

Oops; I can envision only two explanations for the President's antipathy toward the free market of ideas which immeasurably strengthens our democracy as every single citizen is empowered to write, read and listen to every imaginable speech w/o. fear or censorship: he thinks we are too stupid to decide what's true and false; or, he's setting the stage for government restrictions on those bad ideas he sees as threatening our democracy.

Its now your current First Amendment right to evaluate, debate, and decide as between potential causes for the President giving his speech and not mine. Remember, "The Truth is Out There" and I have every confidence you will find it by yourselves. Just saying ...