Credit: Reuters/Brendan Mcdermid
“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." -Abbott Joseph Liebling
Apparently,
you have the right to say whatever you want on a subway ad in America—if you
can afford it.
In
theory we all collectively own public property, since we all pay for it, and
can use it as we wish. In practice, you or I cannot plaster quotes on
billboards all over subway platforms whenever we want to. You also cannot,
through the legal system, enforce guidelines that prevent hate speech from
greeting you every time you take public transit. The legal fiction that
everyone can say whatever they want in public is used to justify forcing you to
hear the opinions of those with money. Exhibit A:
This is
an ad was paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, whose executive
director is Islamophobic blogger Pamela Geller. You would imagine that the MTA
and other public transit organizations would prefer to sidestep the controversy
altogether simply doing business with another advertiser. Well, initially, they
did.
As
Haartz reports:
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York initially refused to run Geller's ad, saying it was "demeaning." But U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled last month that it is protected speech under the First Amendment.
"Our hands are tied," MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said. "Under our existing ad standards as modified by the injunction, the MTA is required to run the ad."
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, backed publication of the "patently offensive" ads.
"More offensive would be their censorship because that would violate the guarantee of free expression of all ideas regardless of how distasteful they are," she said.“Most offensive?” Really?
If Geller had the same rights as you or me, she
could say whatever she wanted—on her blog, standing on a street corner, or in a
dark room by herself—without having police repel from the rafters and drag her
to prison. But she had more rights than you, because you are not executive
director of an organization, and therefore you cannot buy ad space to amplify
your speech.
For instance, if you were to assert the right to speech
like Geller can speak by doing something like…
 |
| Via Israel Facts |
…then
you would be breaking the law. Because you didn't pay for the ad (even though you are a partial owner of what is theoretically a public space). That’s graffiti. You are a criminal, and this disregard for the law is just so uncivilized.
Good for
them.
The ads
are up in San Francisco buses, New York City subway stations, and soon D. C.
subway stations. Check out #MySubwayAd if you want to learn more about exercising the rights that are legally only provided to
people who can pay.
And P.S. Whenever powerful people call a group of people "savages," that's usually a good indication of where your loyalties ought to lie.
