Kaitlyn DeShon
North County Times
"Ohio man given choice of Facebook apology or jail"
http://www.nctimes.com/news/national/backpage/ohio-man-given-choice-of-facebook-apology-or-jail/article_3ab472cf-3ef0-55ea-b19d-9c276a9dd368.html
A man posted what a judge deemed to be rude and annoying comments on his personal Facebook page about his wife. He was given the choice between spending 60 days in jail or posting apologizing comments every day on his page for a month. This is because the judge said that he was is contempt of a previous order prohibiting him from causing his wife any mental abuse. However, several freedom of speech experts say that this is a violation of his rights, and due to the freedom of speech he should be able to post anything he desires on his Facebook page. The man denies he violated any order given to him.
This connects to what we are studying in class because it pertains to the United States government, and it especially pertains to the Revolutionary War because it talks about people being angered by the government undermining their natural rights, which the Declaration of Independence states. The natural right in this situation is the right to freedom of speech, which can easily be put under the category of "the pursuit of happiness", which is stated in the Declaration of Independence. In both the time of the Revolutionary War and this modern scenario, the people are upset with the government witholding their proper rights.
This connects to my life as a citizen because of course I am effected by anything involving the Internet, which Facebook certainly does. I do not have a Facebook account, but many of my friends do as well as my family, so I am very familiar with it. Also, the right to freedom of speech is, surprisingly, often around me in other news and things that happen at my school. Therefore, this connects to my life as a citizen in many different aspects.
My personal opinion is that the judge should not make this man make the choice between a jail sentence and being forced to post comments on his Facebook page where the government decides what he says. This is a very clear violation of the freedom of speech. For example, when the article says, "threatened with jail time ... unless he posted daily apologies for a month," it shows that the judge is forcing him to make a choice that in either way would violate his rights to freedom of speech, and I find that unacceptable.
