# I am a bad American. I do not fully support the 1st Amendment. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 1, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080 "2012-08-01T17:57:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080/41 "2012-08-08T16:08:17Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > You know who else had no problem defining truth? Noah Webster? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080/42 "2012-08-08T16:46:01Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > A 220 years old law, made by some guys who had no idea of universal suffrage, never mind that electricity would be invented and begat the digital revolution. > > Really, really good idea to just keep pretending it’s relevant to the modern age in current form. Good thing England doesn’t still guarantee trial by jury! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080/43 "2012-08-10T01:09:37Z")
It’s really not that hard to define truth. Our courts do it all the time. IN fact, there you go: you lie, someone can sue you for misleading the public using false information in a political campaign. Of course, there will be a lot of lawsuits, so a bi-partisan fact checking committee will have to be created. Voluntarily running your information through them will absolve you of responsibility if they let a lie go through. There will, of course, be a lot of trading, since one party will not want the other party’s damaging message to go through unless they get a damaging piece of information themselves. Are there flaws, sure. But it’s a lot better than the conservative idea that nothing can possibly work. And people wonder why intellectuals are by and large liberal–intellectuals at least try novel solutions to problems–something every intellectual has to do every day. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080/44 "2012-08-13T13:04:29Z")
Or, you know, we just let people think for themselves. If they’re dumb and easily mislead, well, hopefully they’ll die off. If not, then think of a way to mislead them to your own benefit. People are stupid. All of us, in one way or another. There’s no protecting us from ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080/45 "2012-08-15T18:26:12Z")
But they won’t die off, and they won’t think for themselves. They’ll make important, society-affecting decision based on disinformation–history has proven this time and again. I realize the problem is that I am a self-important, belligerant asshole who doesn’t believe a good portion of humanity is fit to make decisions for themselves, let alone millions of other people. But that doesn’t mean lying to manipulate others is not still wrong. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080/46 "2012-08-15T18:47:27Z")
What you’re looking for are Hate Speech laws. The kind that make Ann Coulter tremble with anti socialist indignity when she visits here. Say something once, you get a pass as uninformed. It gets proven wrong and you’re not wise enough to desist, that’s spreading Hate Speech, and you could get yourself in some hot water. One thing it definitely does, is shift the focus, from the lying attention whoring speakers, onto whether it is demonstratively true or false. That tiny thing, changes the entire dynamic of how such things play out, in countries with such legislation. Start talking some trash and laser focus is suddenly shone on the actual veracity of your words, instead of someone sticking a mic in your face so you can just spew some more. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080/47 "2012-08-16T18:51:28Z")
Canada has a provision in their law that prohibits false or misleading news. This has kept FOX News from broadcasting in Canada. Free speech in Canada however remains alive and well. > [@](#): > > Fox News will not be moving into Canada after all! The reason: Canadian regulators announced last week they would reject efforts by Canada’s right-wing Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to repeal a law that forbids lying on broadcast news. > > Canada’s Radio Act requires that “a licenser may not broadcast … any false or misleading news.” The provision has kept Fox News and right-wing talk radio out of Canada and helped make Canada a model for liberal democracy and freedom. As a result of that law, Canadians enjoy high quality news coverage, including the kind of foreign affairs and investigative journalism that flourished in this country before Ronald Reagan abolished the “Fairness Doctrine” in 1987. > > SOURCE: [Focus - MwcNews.net](http://mwcnews.net/focus/politics/9037-fox-news-lies-keep-them-out-of-canada.html) As for advertising I thought we had truth in advertising laws in the US: > [@](#): > > Under the Federal Trade Commission Act: > > - Advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive; > - Advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims; and > - Advertisements cannot be unfair. > Additional laws apply to ads for specialized products like consumer leases, credit, 900 telephone numbers, and products sold through mail order or telephone sales. And every state has consumer protection laws that govern ads running in that state. > > What makes an advertisement deceptive? > According to the FTC’s Deception Policy Statement, an ad is deceptive if it contains a statement - or omits information - that: > > - Is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances; and > - Is “material” - that is, important to a consumer’s decision to buy or use the product. > > SOURCE: [http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus35-advertising-faqs-guide-small-business/](http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus35-advertising-faqs-guide-small-business/) ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080/48 "2012-08-18T14:51:56Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > I am a self-important, belligerant asshole who doesn’t believe a good portion of humanity is fit to make decisions for themselves, let alone millions of other people. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…the liberal platform. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080/49 "2012-08-18T20:22:55Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > Why not. I wrote **proven lie**. They have to objectively prove the message was a lie. A hundred years ago most intellectuals in America thought that Eugenics was “objectively” true. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080/50 "2012-08-18T20:48:18Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Fuck the First Amendment. I would support, vote for, and jail the opponents of a law that makes it a felony to lie or mislead in political advertisements. Unfortunately what is and isn’t “misleading” is very much in the eye of the beholder. There are lots of people who believe that “the mainstream media’s” reports are biased against right-wingers and I’m not sure I’d like idea of bureaucrats or judges who agree with such attitudes deciding what is and isn’t “misleading”. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080/51 "2012-08-20T13:47:15Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…the liberal platform. Nice try, but the description works for both sides of the political coin as well as the fringe independents. Got anything germain to the OP, or did you just want to take a drive-by cheap shot? ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080/52 "2012-08-21T11:42:36Z")
> [@](#): > > This has kept FOX News from broadcasting in Canada. just one more reason I want to move to Canada! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-bad-american-i-do-not-fully-support-the-1st-amendment/630080.md?page=2)