Andrew M. Barnes

The title is not an exact quote, but it is pretty close.  If you don’t know what the 1st Amendment is, then I feel sorry for you.  Unfortunately, there are a mass number of people who for some reason “know” the 1st Amendment….they just don’t understand it.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereoff; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” - US Constitution, 1st Amendment

This is what the original text says, so there shouldn’t really be any confusion or anyone saying that the meaning was lost when it was translated from Hebrew.  Let me go through an example of where someone (who will remain nameless) totally hijacked this amendment, but it is a common misunderstanding.  Dumb, but common.

We were discussing an online messageboard community.  I’m not sure how we got onto this topic, but it was related to conduct on some of these boards.  At some point in the conversation he quoted the 1st Amendment or atleast the “the freedom of speech” part.  He then continued by saying that these people can say whatever they want on these boards, minus threats, or screaming ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater. 

On a sidenote…why is it always a crowded theater?  Is it somehow okay to scream ‘fire!’ when the theater is half full?  And why don’t we hold people accountable for screaming ‘the sky is falling!’ (ie. global warming) the same way we hold them accountable for screaming ‘fire!’.  Anyway, back to the story.

Now, I could’ve agreed with everything thing he said, but that would make me a moron, so I’ll pass.  I tried to explain it to him as simply as I could and hopefully you can follow along.  Messageboards are on websites, meaning someone owns that website, which makes it private, but with ‘public’ forums.  ‘Public’ meaning the owners are allowing anyone to join the messageboard, however they can ban you, censor you, etc at will and not violate the 1st Amendment.

What I got next was a look of confusion and possibly some anger.  He went for awhile trying (it was kinda sad) to explain to me the 1st Amendment is applicable on the internet. 

I agreed, as awhole the internet is covered, but each website is individually owned meaning they have the right to do what they want with their website.  Again, he just didn’t get it.  Maybe he thought I was against freedom of speech, I don’t know, either way it was entertaining.

If you still don’t think I’m right, reread the 1st Amendment again, I can wait………..

Notice anything that might cause a problem with my friend’s argument?  I’ll repeat it, but with a few highlighted parts.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereoff; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” - US Constitution, 1st Amendment

Catch it yet?  Trust me, you may get it, but there are quite a few who don’t. 

You don’t have freedom of speech on a messageboard unless the person who owns the site grants you that right.  Think of it as opening up your home to people to come and voice their opinions on matters, do you not have the right to allow certain people and not others?  While Congress can’t make any laws against your freedom of speech, in regards to my property, I can.

Let me drive this point home.  Everyday I get several spam comments from this blog.  Now according to my friend’s point of view they have a right to post their spam.  I disagree, that’s why you don’t see any spam on MY site. 

Hopefully you now have a better grasp on what the 1st Amendment really says.  And maybe just maybe, you’ll think twice before you hijack the 1st Amendment.  By the way, my friend still doesn’t get it.

“You just become so desperate to make connections and you find yourself very fragile as a part of those connections, I find that I’m very bad at them.  And sometimes that’s really difficult for me, but sometimes it’s also really, really difficult for the other person and I find that I can be really destructive to people that matter a great deal to me.  It’s so easy to bruise the peopel that love you and to damage them because there’s nothing more fragile than someone who loves you.  In the whole world there isn’t anything quite as fragile as someone who is willing to love you.”-Adam Duritz

So true.

In case you were wondering the Charlotte 49ers play tonight at Dayton on Time Warner Cable at 7pm (check your local listings).  If you went to Charlotte or attend Charlotte, then do yourself a favor and watch their game before you switch over to the Tarhole/Puke game.  As much as you wish upon a start you don’t goto UNC-Chapel Hill.

With all that said, I think its obvious that I have disdain for both institutions.  Every year I’m asked who I’m cheering for, my answer atleast twice a year is….’I hope they both lose.’  Not sure how that would happen, maybe a 100 OT game or everyone gets really sick 5 mins before, something along those lines.  Here are some videos to preview tonight’s overhyped game….

UNC-Chapel Hill (carolinasucks.com)

vs.

Duke (truthaboutduke.com)

GO NINERS!

So tonight I had the privilege of going uptown to hear the decision of the Council of Review of the Democratic Party on the Nick Mackey situation.  If you don’t know anything about this mess, then let me catch you up….

Our sheriff resigned for another job, a special election was held by the Democratic Party of Mecklenburg County, Nick Mackey won, turns out that a large number of precincts that voted were invalid, which brings us to tonight. 

Now if you have been following the situation, then you know I left out the part were Nick Mackey lacks any character whatsoever.  For instance he filed for bankruptcy, which in itself isn’t the worst thing, but the debt was cummulative for his law degrees, kinda sketchy.  Would you want a man who can’t handle his own finances handling a $100 million fiscal budget?  He also “resigned” from the CMPD, at this point he can never be a police officer in Charlotte….but sheriff is okay apparently.  This past week he was held in contempt (he’s a lawyer), and he’s being sued by a former client, I believe the charge is extortion. 

This past week, Al Sharpton, yes the Rev, came to Charlotte screaming in some baptist church the process was followed and Mackey should be enstated as sheriff, its safe to say that race was injected in his speech.  Today, the Council of Review had a hearing to see if any rules were broken by the Mecklenburg County democrats.

So now on to my observations from tonight.  I got there around 9:30pm….

• It was interesting to see how many black people were there, I thought this wasn’t a racial issue?  Maybe I was wrong.
• I was really surprised by how many times I heard the ‘n’ word dropped by various black men in the lobby and the meeting room.  I guess it’s still okay….if you’re black.
• I did meet some great people tonight, especially the conversation with a man about the future of 49er football.
• The people sitting behind me made everything racial.  Seriously anytime a media person moved or smiled, it was because Mackey is black.  When the committee came out after hours of closed door sessions, they immediately could tell the ruling by the way the black people walked in, it was kind of disturbing because they were serious.
• Morgan Fogarty was there, enough said.
• The committee ruled 10-2 that the December 6 election that voted in Mackey must be thrown out.  There were 3 black people on the board.  Remember the people that sat behind me?  They called the one black man a sellout.  How they knew how he voted is still a mystery.
• After everyone was dismissed the gentleman and his wife sitting in front of me began singing “We Shall Overcome”…they were alone on this, which made it just that much funnier.  If you watch the highlights from News 14 you can see me laughing in the background with a confused look. (When the video is posted, I’ll link to it.)
• Everyone seemed calm as they left, so I figured I’d head home….
• Outside the government center is where the action started, people were sreaming and such so of course I went over to watch.
• Apparently a man tripped a female reporter and that caused some problems.  This same man had his son there holding a sign that said “Justice Is Not A Reality In Charlotte”.  He made it clear that this is the KKK south and he is the “new f***** Dr. King!”  To be honest, I was laughing (Video Link).
• A young (white) woman who I believe is the leader of the Young Democrats in the region was crying and screaming.  Something about Mackey deserved to be respected.  Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a female drop the ‘f-bomb’ more times than this girl.
• I finally left, disgusted by what Nick Mackey has done to his community, of course, I’m actually starting to become more disgusted with my communities reaction (see above).

So basically there shouldn’t be any new major developments until March, so stay tuned to the Nick Mackey saga.