Free to Scream in Moving Vehicles?
September 09, 2005As I was walking home today, I heard a couple having a screaming match in a turquoise van driving down the street. Now, if hearing a couple having a screaming match (... and we're talking SCREAMING!) isn't enough to get me worried, the fact that one of the two screaming parties was driving a van down the street at the time surely was enough to make me shrink back from the road.
I couldn't make out anything from the screaming match save one phrase: the woman involved shouted "... FIRST AMENDMENT!" then the van drove past me and I was free to contemplate.
At first I was pretty scared because I was thinking, "First Amendment? Right to bear arms? Oh shit!" When I got home, however, I put my mind at ease, sorta, and realized that the first amendment is in fact this:
"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." (FindLaw)
So, now, even though I am less worried about people driving around screaming about the right to bear arms, I'm pondering this:
What is it about the first amendment that got this woman so incredibly fired up that she started a screaming match IN A MOVING VEHICLE?
Was she trying to start her own cult and facing problems? Was she trying to have a giant peace rally in, say, Wal-Mart's parking lot and dealing with angry managment? Maybe she was trying to contact the local government about, say, a parking ticket and received no response? The problem is: I will never know! I may forever ponder this random moment in time wondering just what it is that made this woman so fiercely angered about her first amendment rights. Argh!
(P.S. As I was researching, I came across this site:
a group of advocates working to ensure that American citizens continue to have their first amendment rights. pretty neat. check it. and, neat, they have a blog!)-