# The 1st Amendment is a MUCH bigger threat to America than the 2nd Amendment **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 7, 2019, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395 "2019-10-07T06:42:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/1 "2019-10-07T06:42:15Z")
The 1st Amendment is a MUCH **MUCH** bigger threat to America than the 2nd Amendment. (An extra thousand deaths per month? Who cares! There’d still be 200,000 dead Americans every month.) _It is the 1st Amendment that is destroying our country._ Just for starters it provokes disinformation and unifies haters. Susan Rice says > [@Susan Rice (Rhodes Scholar](#): > > _ **Our domestic political divisions are, in fact, at the moment our greatest national security vulnerability.** _ (The Russians figured that out.) [This video touches on the attacks of social medias,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKd2QVrQVIM) the new technology which makes the 1st Amendment so dangerous. (Which is cause and which effect?) I expect to be attacked by BOTH the Left and the Right for this post. But note that I am not calling for a direct repeal of the First Amendment (as if that were even possible). (I’m an INTP not like most of you, who are INTJ’s 😛 .) I just want us all to FIRST grok what the real problems are; THEN we can seek solutions. … If it’s not too late. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/2 "2019-10-07T07:17:19Z")
Do you have a case to make, or are we supposed to sit through your video before we find out why you’re saying this? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/3 "2019-10-07T07:36:09Z")
I think the OP has been reading too much H.L. Mencken. Also, Myers-Briggs is pseudo-scientific bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/4 "2019-10-07T08:14:10Z")
INTP? Into toilet paper? ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/5 "2019-10-07T09:03:12Z")
Leave the Constitution alone (speaking generally). Social Media is only an issue if there is too much censorship, like other venues of expression. Hiding words and ideas does not inhibit thoughts and reality. The problems will still exist, just will be masked, while taking freedom from the greater and responsible majority. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/6 "2019-10-07T10:36:07Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Also, Myers-Briggs is pseudo-scientific bullshit. Another idiot. A Myers-Briggs test asks “Are you an introvert?”, phrasing that question five different ways. At the end it tells you whether you’re an introvert or not! One can make complaints about such a test, e.g. (a) it just tells you what you already knew, or (b) it can be manipulated (an extrovert might answer the questions pretending to be an introvert) … but calling it “pseudo-scientific bullshit” shows a staggering level of ignorance and/or confusion. The claim that Jupiter in square with Venus shows introversion is pseudo-science. How, pray tell, is answering “Yes” to the question “Are you an introvert?” in the same category? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/7 "2019-10-07T10:59:56Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > An extra thousand deaths per month? Who cares! Ugh. If we are thinking about limiting the 1st Amendment, can we start with you? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/8 "2019-10-07T11:29:20Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > … but calling it “pseudo-scientific bullshit” shows a staggering level of ignorance and/or confusion. The claim that Jupiter in square with Venus shows introversion is pseudo-science. How, pray tell, is answering “Yes” to the question “Are you an introvert?” in the same category? Of course it is. How would I know if I’m an introvert or not? It’s cool to be an introvert these days, so plenty of people have convinced themselves that they’re deep and self-reflecting instead of what they actually are, which is just plain boring. People lie all the time, and they lie to themselves the most. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/9 "2019-10-07T12:13:07Z")
I’m not sure what the argument is. Anyway, social media has no intrinsic link to the first amendment that I can see. Also I don’t think USA has the free-est speech in the world so why would they be the only ones in trouble? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/10 "2019-10-07T12:19:28Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > I’m not sure what the argument is. Anyway, social media has no intrinsic link to the first amendment that I can see. Also I don’t think USA has the free-est speech in the world so why would they be the only ones in trouble? Some European countries ban hate speech which is legal in the U.S. Also, much “free speech” in the U.S. is served up by politicians or trolls in the pay of big corporations. This is much less common in Europe, in part because they don’t have an infatuation with treating Freedom of Speech as an invitation to the loudest, best-financed liars. ---
**Author:** ![atimnie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atimnie/32/11_2.png) [@atimnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atimnie)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/11 "2019-10-07T12:23:48Z")
You say you’ll change the constitution, well, you know We all wanna change your head You’re exactly the kind of idiot John Lennon was singing about. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/12 "2019-10-07T12:24:05Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Also, much “free speech” in the U.S. is served up by politicians or trolls in the pay of big corporations. I’d ask for a cite, but first you’re going to have to explain how you even _quantify_ “free speech”. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/13 "2019-10-07T13:00:01Z")
Do you _really_ want the current administration deciding what speech is to be allowed and disallowed? If you do, when the ship of state inevitably rights itself and the current administration is just an aberration in the rear view mirror, do you want the administration that takes over deciding? The difference between libertarians and everybody else on the political spectrum is that everybody else dreams how wonderful it will be if their friends are voted into power, and grant government power accordingly while libertarians dream how horrible it will be if their enemies are voted into power, and grant government power accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/14 "2019-10-07T13:26:47Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Do you _really_ want the current administration deciding what speech is to be allowed and disallowed? … Let me try larger fonts: Again, I do NOT advocate repeal of the First Amendment. I am an INTP, not an INTJ. I am describing a very serious problem facing the U.S.A. I do not have a solution. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/15 "2019-10-07T14:39:31Z")
I get that domestic division is a huge problem, but I don’t see how the 1st Amendment makes this worse. Such divisions would remain with or without the 1st Amendment. ---
**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:** [October 7, 2019, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/16 "2019-10-07T14:46:48Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I do not have a solution. Well, _you_ definitely have a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/17 "2019-10-07T15:19:18Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > How, pray tell, is answering “Yes” to the question “Are you an introvert?” in the same category? I’m not sure if you are putting on an act in this thread or not. I suspect so, as your posting history indicates an effort to back assertions and a dictinct lack of varying font sizes. But since you ask, Meyer-Briggs is pseudo-science because it’s based mostly on untested, unverified bunkum. Yes, introversion/extroversion is measurable and useful. Some problems here: it’s only 1 of the four axes in Meyer-Briggs, it’s presented as a binary either/or thing, the test itself is inconsistent providing different answers on repeated trials (not for everybody but for enough people to be troubling), and both academic and professional psychologists largely eschew its use (yes, they do use introversion/extroversion but again, just 1 axis out of several). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/18 "2019-10-07T15:23:53Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > INTP? Into toilet paper? INTP is one of the 16 personality types proposed by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator system – [Myers–Briggs Type Indicator - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indicator) > [@septimus](#): > > Another idiot. A Myers-Briggs test asks “Are you an introvert?”, phrasing that question five different ways. At the end it tells you whether you’re an introvert or not! > > One can make complaints about such a test, e.g. > (a) it just tells you what you already knew, or > (b) it can be manipulated (an extrovert might answer the questions pretending to be an introvert) > > … but calling it “pseudo-scientific bullshit” shows a staggering level of ignorance and/or confusion. The claim that Jupiter in square with Venus shows introversion is pseudo-science. How, pray tell, is answering “Yes” to the question “Are you an introvert?” in the same category? It’s pseudo-scientific in that it posits the existence of 16 essential human personality categories based on four bivalent traits. There’s no scientific basis to support choosing those four pairs of traits as essential or the resulting 16 categories as being a representative and comprehensive field of essential categories of human personalities. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/19 "2019-10-07T15:51:22Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I do not have a solution. So, you’re part of the precipitate, then… ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395/20 "2019-10-07T16:03:57Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > The 1st Amendment is a MUCH **MUCH** bigger threat to America than the 2nd Amendment. > > _It is the 1st Amendment that is destroying our country._ The 1st Amendment is… > [@](#): > > Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 45 words. These 45 words, as assembled above and voted upon by politicians is “destroying our country”. Yet, you can’t figure out how to fix it. That’s interesting. I mean, it’s 45 words. That’s not a lot, even an INTP could manage to read 45 words and form an opinion on them, yes? You believe these words are destroying our country but can’t even suggest what part of this single sentence is the bad part. 10 of the 45 words are about redress of grievances. Is that the bad part? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-1st-amendment-is-a-much-bigger-threat-to-america-than-the-2nd-amendment/841395.md?page=2)