30 August, 2002
I find it difficult to express how disturbed I am at the contents of this article from the...
I find it difficult to express how disturbed I am at the contents of this article from the Sacramento Bee, about the results of a recent survey into American attitudes towards the First Amendment. The article is full of frightening statistics, including:
- 49% of Americans think the first Amendment goes "too far" ("Many Americans view these fundamental freedoms as possible obstacles in the war on terrorism")
- 48% agree the government should be able to "infringe upon religious freedoms" in order to monitor religious groups in the interest of national security
- 4 in 10 favor restrictions on the academic freedom of professors to criticize government military policy during war
- 7 in 10 believe newspapers should be able to publish freely (30% of Americans are against freedom of the press???)