Common Sense Speech Control

I’ve come to the conclusion that unregulated free speech has led to much destruction and discord in our society. How many of our societal woes are caused by the transmission of high speed misinformation? So, I’d like to suggest some common sense speech control for our own safety.

We are all familiar with the concepts of free speech and freedom of the press as outlined in our over two centuries old First Amendment of the Constitution.

But let’s face it, our founding fathers never envisioned a time when just anyone could sit behind a keyboard and with the click of a button, send information, much of it inaccurate, across the world. This high speed, high capacity, communication did not exist two hundred years ago. It is dangerous.

Freedom of speech and the press were a lot different then.

If you wanted to be heard, you would have had to stand on a soap box in the town square and talk loudly.

If you had money, you could pay a printer to type set a flier or pamphlet. These were limited runs.

If you wanted to publish a book, you had to have an education, then find an editor and publisher willing to finance the endeavor. High capacity communication was difficult then, only for a few, and overseen by publishers and editors.

In order to make our society safer and bring it more in line with the idea of free speech as it was envisioned at our nation’s founding, I suggest the following common sense free speech rules.

1)      You must have a permit to post on the internet. It would require just a simple background check to make sure you are not a criminal or working as a foreign agent, especially Russian.

2)      You cannot have had any psychological or mental health issues. After all we can’t have unbalanced people spreading misinformation, delusions, fear and hate inflaming the masses.

3)      No High Capacity printing or posting allowed without a Federal Permit. High Capacity is defined as any publication or post over 1,250 words or 5 pages. No one needs to use that many words for basic communication. Lengthy publications/posts in the wrong hands can be destructive.

4)      Any posts published to more than one site must be sent to a government official to fact check before publishing.

5)      You must be at least 18 years of age and have a high school diploma.

You are still free to stand on a soap box in a public area, as long as it’s in a designated free speech zone and talk as loudly as you want.

I think we can all agree that a few common sense regulations on our speech would make the world a lot safer. After all, we need some way to reduce all of these unregulated mass communications.

©Wade Laszlo 2018