Write to Free Speech
The American Bill of Rights attached to the United States Constituion has an amazing first clause,
“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.”
No matter what you beleive about politics, I’m going to take you through a little history lesson for writers on why freedom of speech is vital for even fiction writers.
What is Freedom of Speech?Freedom of speech is the Constitionally protected ability to say without fear of repercussions from the government things like, “King James is a pimple.” (a true quote, but I can’t find the Revolutionary War era source because the internet is obsessed with Dr. Pimple Popper. I wish I were kidding.)
While this isn’t particularly flattering for the historical figures involved - it certainly wasn’t a life threating declaration. However, people were placed into prison for speaking up. This meant that documents like the Bill of Rights and the Constitution were infinately controversal and dangerous to even think about, much less be the author of.
Why is freedom of speech important for writers?Its our writing. The best writing is dangerous. The best writing will tell dangerous stories. They may not appear dangerous in the plot blurb on the back cover - but writers are inheirently dangerous because we work in the currency of ideas.
New ideas are always frightening. And throughout history there have been people and organizations in power who wanted to shut them down.
The printing press was originally made to produce Bibles. The church feared if the people could read the Bible for themselves, they would lose power and control. And they did. The Christian church fractured in Europe.
During the American Civil War African American slaves were forbidden from learning how to read. The ability to read meant that they could forge papers and gain their freedom. Post Civil War Reconstruction saw the opening of thousands of schools to serve formerly enslaved communities. They tied their ability to read not only to freedom of belief and movement - but also to their right to vote. They wanted to be civically involved and change their country for the better.
During World War II, in Nazi occupied Europe, printing presses and paper were highly regulated in an effort to stop illegal propaganda against the Nazis and to prevent the forging of documents. These falsified documents were life and death to millions of refugees. The anti-Nazi propaganda inspired others to join the illegal Resistance forces who offered humanitarian aid, food, shelter and often conducted para-military operations against the Nazis. The Resistance’s writing took not only political forms of opposition, calling for human rights and freedom, but reports of troop movements and fortifications…. when the time for invasion came, lives were saved because of the accurate information gathered.
For the sake of their writing - millions of people have died throughout history… for holding onto dangerous writings.The danger of writers’ words is still going on today.Check out this article: Myanmar poets speak out from the front lines of protest
That’s correct. Its a collection of writers throughout history and modern day… doing dangerous things… writing dangerous words of freedom.
Freedom of speech is not the right to say anything all the time for self serving purposes - Its a vital realization that our words matter, and we should use them well. Not only for ourselves, but for those who will read them in the future.
Today is midterm voting. Turn outs are historically lower at midterms, which means each person’s vote potentially has more weight to it. Voting is a freedom of speech. It is a small moment where each of us gets a choice to make, and where we mark the ballot determines the future. So, take a break from writing and use your freedom of speech to go vote.
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