Danger
Daily, people cloak themselves in the First Amendment.
“I have the right to free speech.”
“You can’t tell me to shut up.”
“I’m entitled to my opinion.”
True, true and true.
With limits.
Should your right to say what you want include a certain kind of threat, you can most certainly be charged for it. Should your speech be yelling “fire” in a crowded venue to incite alarm, expect there may be a penalty.
But yes, generally, you are free to tell your neighbor you feel his Christmas decorations are an obnoxious abomination, your wife that those jeans add a few unflattering pounds (at your own peril) or shout from the mountain top that you find Donald Trump/Hillary Clinton/Donald Duck to be a repugnant windbag.
If social media sites like Facebook and Twitter prove nothing else, they show we are an opinionated and free-speaking society.
In a check of your feeds, it probably takes less than 30 seconds to find an opinion, maybe 60 seconds to find one that makes you roll your eyes in disagreement.
What do you do?
Chances are you fall into one of three categories: you hit “unfriend” so you don’t have to see what that person posts anymore, you roll your eyes and pass the post by or you engage.
Two of those three have the same end impact — ignoring something you disagree with.
The third, meanwhile, can lead to a protracted back-and-forth discussion and exchange of views, knowing it’s unlikely that any minds are going to be changed.
Do either of you, as your opinions are expressed, consider sending a notarized letter to the other person that instructs them to stay away from any place you might be, and to cease saying anything about you and your beliefs? If they again expressed an opinion about you, would you expect the police would cite them for harassing you?
That’s what a Fayette County detective said South Connellsville Police Chief Russell Miller ordered one of his officers to do when a resident of the borough said some things he didn’t like.
The opinions were expressed by Mary Lubich-Riley at a public council meeting in May. Miller, police said, took umbrage to what Lubich-Riley had to say and had a constable deliver her a notarized letter telling her to refrain from harassing him and stay away from any of his places of employment.
In October, Lubich-Riley came back before the borough council and again publicly expressed her views and concerns.
Instead of ignoring what she had to say if he disagreed with it, Miller is accused of ordering one of his officers to cite her for harassment.
The citation alleged that Miller told Lubich-Riley that she wasn’t to talk to or address him. It accused her of violating the instructions in the notarized letter he sent her in May.
Lubich-Riley pleaded not guilty and asked for a hearing before a magisterial district judge, who found her not guilty this week when Miller didn’t show up at the hearing, according to court papers.
Now Miller finds himself charged with official oppression for using his office to file an unsubstantiated charge.
Lubich-Riley’s comments were made during an open council meeting, where public comment should be invited — and, at the very least, is required. That’s how taxpayers can let their elected representatives know what they think. Yes, those comments can be negative; yes, they can sting.
But those who are elected are put into office to listen to all of their constituents’ views, not just the ones they’d like to hear. Miller may not be an elected official, but he is employed by those who have been voted into office. Opinions about his performance, or the performance of any person hired with taxpayer dollars by those elected to office, is open to public opinion.
And that brings us back to freedom of speech.
That freedom exists to protect not only the speech you agree with, but also, and perhaps even more importantly, the speech you hate — because no matter what you believe, there is someone, somewhere in the U.S. who vehemently disagrees with it.
You’d expect to be protected for your beliefs; be willing to protect theirs … or at the very least, mentally click “unfriend” and ignore what you don’t agree with.