A recent controversy surrounding the anti-gay marriage comments of Chick-fil-A President and COO Dan Cathy is the subject of the latest Baltimore Sun column by UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller. In “Chick-fil-A head has a right to speak, not a right to be taken seriously,” Schaller focuses on what he sees as misunderstandings on the part of Cathy’s defenders when it comes to the First Amendment right to free speech.
Schaller suggests that arguing that the backlash against Chick-fil-A constitutes censorship demonstrates ignorance of constitutional and policy matters. He writes, “[t]he First Amendment is no guarantee against being justifiably ignored. And the truth is that many citizens hold foolish, even self-contradictory opinions on a variety of subjects.” Schaller gives examples of where public assumptions and data are out of sync, from the federal budget to health care, arguing that a person’s right to express an opinion does not translate into a guarantee that the opinion be heard or incorporated into policy.
Tags: CAHSS, PoliticalScience
