Free speech. Do we have it?
The answer is layered, especially as the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has brought this issue to the forefront.
Kirk was polarizing; many adored him, and many thought his words were hateful. Social media has been a hotbed of posts and comments praising him and disparaging him. And some people are getting in trouble for that.
Discussions about free speech and its consequences in the wake of Kirk’s murder are happening around the country as people are losing their jobs or being investigated over comments made on private accounts.
Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas recently sent a letter to the state’s public school superintendents, saying that teachers who celebrate Kirk’s death could lose their jobs and their teaching licenses.
Several Florida teachers are being investigated for potential removal over their social media remarks. Governor Ron DeSantis says he also supports firing nurses and government workers over their posts.
A former state government employee in Bay County is suing the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission because she was fired over a social media repost.
The Republican Party of Florida issued a strong statement last week calling for Leon County school board member Darryl Jones to resign over a social media comment.
We’ve seen fallout nationally. The ABC network suspended talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for his on-air comments under pressure from the FCC, then reinstated him. MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd was fired for on-air comments, and other public figures around the country have also lost their jobs.
So, we had questions about free speech, potential consequences, and government action surrounding perceived free speech.
On Speaking Of, we posed these questions to Aaron Terr, Director of Public Advocacy with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
"What's concerning is that the (Trump) administration and other officials at the state and local levels are seizing on this tragedy and the things people are saying about it to enact their own program of censorship," Terr says. "Americans don't forfeit their First Amendment rights just because they take up a job with the government. They still retain the right to speak as citizens off the clock on matters of public concern."
Hear the full conversation by clicking LISTEN above.
