Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 14, Number 18, DeMotte, Jasper County, 17 March 1944 — FREEDOM OF SPEECH.... [ARTICLE]

FREEDOM OF SPEECH....

By VINCENT GIESE

Robert Louis Stevenson once said, “It is through talk alone that we can learn the period and ourselves. Jn short, the first duty of man is to speak; that is his chief business in this world, and talk, which is the of two or more, is by far the most accessible of pleasures. It completes our education, founds and fosters our friendships, and can be enjoyed in any age and in almost every state of health.'’ Indeed, speech is a necessary complement of a full, rounded life. Yet, more than that, speech —freedom of speech —is one of the all-important means we here in America still have to keep our way of life a way of the people, by the people and for the people. For this reason, freedom of speech and expression must be a guarantee of life. Once this natural impulse no longer is free, our condition of life will be one of servitude, as is the case in totalitarian countries where expression is free only in so far as it is used to support the dictator. What does freedom of expression mean to us? It is the right to express openly an opinon for or against our form of government ; the right to meet our friends openly and discuss what we will—politics, life, joys, sorrows; the right to sit in little barber shops on Saturday mornings to swap yarns; the right the minister has to administer openly from the pulpit; the

right of mothers to talk over backyard fences on wash days; the right of lecturers to address womens’ clubs; the right to read a newspaper and turn a radio dial. This is freedom of expression. For this the United Nations must fight. Yet, the right to speak, the right to hear, the right of access to information carry with them certain moral responsibilities. These responsibilities correspond to our right to freedom 1 of expression. These are the conditions implied in the very nature of the right. Recognizing this responsibility, then, freedom of expression does not means the freedom to disseminate destructive propaganda, nor to spread evil through immoral literature, “tainted” movies, obscene speech, nor to subvert order and peace, nor to yell in crowded theatres. Rather, freedom of expression implies that we use this precious right for the intellectual, spiritual, and cultural betterment of ourselves and mankind. It must become a means to a higher end. It must be constructive, not destructive. This is the moral obligation which accompanies freedom of expression. ■ Thus, the United Nations must fight that soon all people once again not only be able to enjoy this right, but also that they soon be educated to use this freedom for the betterment of society and for the ultimate fulfillment of life’s true purpose.