The First Amendment has been front and center in national headlines this week—how fitting, since yesterday was Constitution Day.
On one side, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi went on a podcast and said:
“There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech. There is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society. We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”
No, Pam. That is not how it works.
On the other side, Jimmy Kimmel just lost his job at ABC over comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Kimmel, and those who support him, seem to think that “free speech” should include protection from the consequences of the things you say.
Of course that’s not how it works either.
Kimmel and Bondi are two very different people in two very different situations, but both are exposing the same massive lack of understanding about what free speech really means.
It’s actually pretty simple.
Free speech means you can say whatever you believe—no matter how unpopular or offensive it may sound to someone else.
There’s no such thing as “hate speech.”
Speech is just speech.
Words are just words.
And the First Amendment protects your right to say them.
But that protection doesn’t mean you’re free from consequences. If your boss, your neighbors, or polite society at large decides that the things you’ve said reveal a character they don’t want to be associated with, then you may face fallout.
That’s not the government limiting your freedom to speak; it’s just the natural consequence of exercising your freedom in a world where other people are free too.
Bondi’s mistake is believing that only some speech deserves protection. Kimmel’s is believing that speech should carry no consequences. Both of them are wrong, and the fact that these misunderstandings are coming from people in positions of power and influence should remind us how little real civics education our schools provide anymore.
It’s why we do what we do.
We create resources that help parents teach their kids the way the real world works.
Best of all, our books don’t just teach kids dry facts that they’ll forget as soon as their lesson is over—they help them understand why principles like free speech matter, and how to apply them when the headlines are confusing.
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If you’ve been on the fence about jumping in, the last week should serve as your sign to run as fast as you can toward resources that will teach your kids the real meaning of some of our country’s most important founding principles.
Everyone from the Attorney General to late-night comedians are fumbling the First Amendment, but your kids don’t have to.
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— Connor
