The Right to be Heard?

I've always thought people were sue-happy in this country, but this one is beyond ridiculous. Apparently, some kid was banned from Sony's game forums, and he believes this is an appropriate matter for the courts, on the basis of his first amendment right to free speech. He also wants $55,000 in 'punitive damages.'

Many of the comments on the site have already pointed out that his right to free speech is a right guaranteed by the government, not by private entities. Some also pointed out that the case would probably be thrown out, as there is no legal basis for his argument. So, there's no need for me to reiterate that.

What people seem to be missing is that the right to free speech does not amount to the right to be heard. Although the government can't stop you from saying whatever wacko things you want to say, no one is obliged to listen to you. And they certainly are not required to allow you to take up space on their servers and offend their other customers.

I haven't even been on this earth for a quarter century – so correct me if I'm wrong here – but it seems there's been a marked shift in political debates from before the Great Depression (maybe sooner) to now. Now, the argument seems to go, people have a right to this or that. Everyone has a right to a home. And health care. And a job. And good wages from the job. Right, Obama? Actually, FDR came up with this Economic Bill of Rights in 1944, which were in short: the right to a job with decent wages; right for farmers to sell their goods for high enough prices; the right to a competitive, but not overly competitive market; home, medical care, unemployment insurance, and education.

Personally, I think the Economic Bill of Rights is silly. We have a right to pursue those things unhindered by government, but if we are not willing to work for what we want, we have no right to them.

It seems to me that, since then, people focus too much on what our rights are instead of what the government's rights are not. Prior to that, political debates seemed to center on, or at least consider, whether Congress has a constitutional right to proceed. Now we constantly talk about what things or services the people have a right to that the government must fulfill (health insurance, anyone?) or enforce against someone else (minimum wage).

This is how people confuse the privilege of being heard with the right to free speech. How many other areas in our lives do we do that in? This is how we give the government control of our entire lives – by demanding privileges as 'rights' and expecting the government to be the enforcer.

It used to be that the government could guarantee us at least a certain amount of freedom from its intervention – now it guarantees at least a certain amount of intervention so that it can be our nanny.