What is the true meaning of free speech? The Bill of Rights states "Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." By this statement then, we should all have the freedom to say whatever we like.
Notions of free speech and our civil liberties came under scrutiny again with the speech given at Columbia University on Monday by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The fury began when Ahmadinejad petitioned the city council of New York City to visit Ground Zero to memorialize the Sept. 11 attacks. Despite being denied the right to visit the site of tragedy, Ahmadinejad accepted an invitation by Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, to speak.
These two events raise fundamental questions that Americans have tackled since the inception of the Constitution. First, who does the Constitution protect? Second, what exactly is the First Amendment protecting?
The U.S. was founded upon principles of individual freedom and protection from tyrannical governments. Ahmadinejad is the embodiment of a repressive and regressive government. He openly threatens the stability of the Middle East with his constant threats against Israel and his country’s support of terrorism.
In light of all this, is he a person who deserves, let alone is allowed, protection under our Constitution? No. Based on the rhetoric of his speeches, he is a threat to national interests and security. Ahmadinejad is not a person committed to democratic ideals, nor does he want to be a "friend in peace" so that when he enters our sovereign space he is entitled to the same benefits as others.
In respect to our second question of what the First Amendment protects, I will use the most widely perceived explanation. If you are in a theater and someone comes in screaming "FIRE!" just for fun and causes a stampede in which someone is hurt, this person is not protected under the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects the right of free speech in regards to disagreeing with another’s opinion and giving new ideas without fear of rebuke from the government. What Ahmadinejad spews when he gives public speeches is not the same thing as the person who walks in the theatre and screams "FIRE!" Regardless, Ahmadinejad effectively causes a stampede when he says that "Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth" or that the United States is "the great Satan of the West."
The Iranian president is a threat to the well-being of millions of people. So I ask again: what exactly does our First Amendment protect? I do not think it protects people who say such outrageous things that call for the murder of millions of innocent people or the destruction of nations.
When Bollinger invited Ahmadinejad to Columbia, he should have been well aware of these facts and thought twice before inviting him. Universities are not to be used as a place of political espousal for a person to threaten the very existence of nations and individuals. In our quest to allow personal freedom, we should never allow free speech to trump the security and well-being of lives.
The greater good must at times come before the individual good, and in this case there is no other way to look at it except through individual rights. And Ahmadinejad in no way outweighs the rights of the American people, government and nation.
Clancy, a political science senior, can be reached via [email protected]
