Does anyone seriously believed this banner would have caused a ten-day suspension from school? The perpetrator would have been perhaps scolded for a drug reference. But mixing recreational drug use with the founder of the Christian religion? The offending student had better prepare to get nailed.
Hey Americans, listen up. Five Supreme Court justices has decided US citizens' right to free speech is subject to vague restrictions. If these guys decide your sophomoric attempt to get on TV constitutes advocacy of drug use, you're out of luck. Especially if you throw in a religious reference bound to trigger a conscious or unconscious desire to punish the blasphemer.
Alito and Roberts, whose confirmation Democrats who rejected "partisanship" so helpfully enabled, are now proceeding to whittle away at the Bill of Rights, as well as legal precedents on a number of issues, stare decisis be damned.
Or as the dissenting justices put it, "That the court believes such a silly message can be proscribed as advocacy underscores the novelty of its position, and suggests that the principle it articulates has no stopping point."
Only one of several disastrous, though predictable, decisions the court issued yesterday, the case involving the free speech rights of the high schooler who unfurled the banner "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" while not on school property during what can only loosely defined as a school function, resulted in another shocking display by the new conservative majority. The student's right of free speech guaranteed by the Constitution were apparently outweighed by the harm his silly, nonsensical banner would cause to other students. As with women, the court's new majority, appears to assume that high school students are mentally incapable of independent thought, and therefore must be protected even from the most inane, ridiculous statements, if they contain a reference to drug use.
This is a dangerous erosion of every citizen's right to free speech. We need to hold free speech events online and in our communities, to educate Americans about the present threats to one of our most basic rights. At a time in our culture when there are a number of assaults on the right of free speech this is especially troubling. David Horowitz is leading a widely-supported popular movement to enact an Academic Bill of Rights, a truly Orwellian phrase, which aims to prohibit public and private colleges from "introducing controversial matter" into the classroom, among other things. This ironically titled "bill of rights" has been introduced in a number of state legislatures and the US House of Representatives and is popular among movement conservatives.
There are other troubling trends. The establishment of restrictive "Free Speech Zones" in communities and on campuses, the denial of applications for groups to exercise their right of assembly. The increased intimidation of dissenters through illegal government spying, recently involving peace activists, immigration rights supporter, animal rights activists and others.
I propose that anyone interested in exercising their right of free speech concerning the Supreme Court ruling adopt "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" as their battle cry. T-shirts, bumper stickers, even yard signs are a way to protest this ridiculous ruling. It would be great if a banner with Bong Hits 4 Jesus" were unfurled on the steps of the Supreme Court to publicize free speech events and make an unmistakable statement. Online discussions, lectures and group meetings would raise awareness about free speech issues, and related matters such as the suppression of dissenting voices in the media, increasing because of the influence of conservative media conglomerates. A discussion of the tactics by right-wing media personalities that include eliminationist rhetoric and demonization of dissenters and "liberals" and effect of these attacks on free and open dialog in our public discourse. Finally, these groups could discuss an agenda for counteracting these threats. We shouldn't sit back idly while the ongoing attempt to whittle away at our freedoms gains momentum and has friends in the most important institutions in our land.