Article archive / January 1, 2014
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 5. Source pages: 2.
Growing up in a household where my mother would warn, “If you don’t’ have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” it was hard to believe that she had gone out of her way to marry my father. He was a passionate, eccentric Irishman, and everyone knows what that means. As a journalist his opinion about openness was, “If the door won’t open, kick it in.”
I blame most of my neurosis on those mixed messages. These days tempered by my Libertarian leanings and training in community psychology, I see the clash of subgroups caused by Duckman Phil Robertson’s comments as a wealth of information about the wonders of the United States.
First, as my mother tried to teach me––unsuccessfully––there’s probably always a better way to say your truth than when you just spit it out. This seems especially likely if you’re driving along in a pick-up with a Gentlemen’s Quarterly interviewer, talking about hunting, weapons, and sex.
Which brings up the question to A&E executives, “Have you met Phil Robertson?” “Have you watched the show?”
It’s interesting that Phil’s comments are like a Rorshach test. Different people are seeing and hearing different things depending on their beliefs and backgrounds. Perhaps psychologists and counselors should work harder to teach others about perceptions, how emotions influence how we think. And while we’re at it, we might help with the differences between tolerance, acceptance, and support.
We can thank Phil, GLAAD, and A&E for raising the level of awareness about freedom of speech. It is no small thing that the framers of the Constitution figured this out for us with the First Amendment. It is one of the main values of our culture, one of our country’s social norms, and it is central in protecting other liberties.
One of the most obvious benefits is that freedom of speech and information help us to detect injustice, complain, and alert others as needed. It’s very hard for someone to cheat us when we’re telling the whole world about it. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
And free speech helps us avoid groupthink. The back and forth discussion in the media and on the web about Phil’s comments, including just about anyone who had a computer, helped us all think a little more deeply and look a bit more carefully at the issues.
From the other side of the equation, the norm tells us that if we don’t like what someone else has to say, well, buck up. Deal with it. Sticks and stones. The right of free speech tells us that we must be independent, that maturity and responsibility are required for us to have freedom.
So when subgroups clash over matters that relate to differences in beliefs and lifestyles, we can be grateful that an abstract, principle of social order has already been provided for us. We can put some trust in it, that it truly works as a corrective measure, to help check and balance.
For anyone who grew up in a household where the mom told us to just be quiet about it, how can we fail to appreciate this example of the right and importance of free speech? No door kicking needed. What a country.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.