Question

Do you believe that the First Amendment protections outlined in the Constitution should be changed in light of changes in society and technology today?

Answer 1

The first amendment prevents the government from making laws which regulate the practice of a religion, abridges freedom of speech, restricts freedom of speech, freedom of press, right to peacefully assemble and reght to petition the government for redressal of grievances.

The society has undergone signifiacnt changes from the time it was adopted. The technoloical changes has revolutised the way people communicate among themselves and the speed with which information reaches from one person to the other. Some recent developments in different parts of the world ( The US included) have posed serious law and order problems and many members of society take their rights and privileges as granted, due to lenient view of the law. In prevalining scenario, there are some aspects of the amendment which need to be reviewed.

The right of freedom of press and right to free speach have been misused in past and is more likely to be misused with advent of new form of electronic news outlets, many of them unregulated. These unregulated mouthpieces are instrumental in spread of false and fabrictated news, biased and agenda driven opinions and viscious propaganda to fulfill their long and short term goals. These unregulated news outlets are found to be behind acts of violence, arson and communal hate related crimes worldwide. There is an urgent need to nail them, by making suitable changes to the existing laws. No one can be allowed to spread hate on the name of freedom of speech and press / media. Laws related to religious freedom are also misused to run malicious agenda by few members of some religions who have  larger, nefarious goals which affect the freedom of practice and propagation of some other religions. Why should the government allow some people to run riots in the name of religious feeedom, which are sure to pose a serious law and order trouble in the time to come. Earlier actions will make the future better for a civilised society.

The laws and regulations are for well being of the people and maintenance of order in society and are bound to change with the societal changes. This also applies to the first amendment.