Everyone reading this who realizes there is an election coming up in November raise his or her hand.
Thank you. I invite you to stay and read today's post. All others may go about their business...mowing lawns or walking the dog or taking a drive up through New England to ooh and aaah at the changing colors on the trees. Stop at a country dairy and have some ice cream on me.
Those of you who choose to stay, be prepared for a slight shift in content. Today we would like to talk about free speech. Jane, and most of her sisters, are all for free speech. That said, Jane, personally, wishes four-letter words were banned. Not LOVE, not even LUST, just the ones purposely used to insult, encite, or enrage listeners. We realize this is not going to happen, and that it's a PERSONAL preference (which some others share with Jane...even Dick and some of his friends), and we are content to leave it that way. After all, if wishes were horses, beggars could ride.
In this country, in this time, free speech gives us -- all of us -- the right to speak our minds, without fear of reprisal or imprisonment. The coming election is a good example of the right of free speech. Politicians play fast and loose with this 1st amendment right. Do you, dear readers, ever get as tired as Jane does of hearing the same promises, the same rhetoric, the same accusations spoken over and over again, by both sides? Not just in this election...in EVERY election!
This issue was brought to our attention recently in two ways; one way through a conversation going on at Peter Davidson's blog regarding a pitch someone made to him, and his scathing response. Some folks felt he was right on the money, others thought he went over the top. In the end, Peter had a right to post his thoughts online, regardless of anyone else's opinion. Jane admitted she thought he was a bit harsh, but...perhaps in his place, Jane would have done something similar. Jane can get quite testy sometimes.
The bottom line is that Peter should feel comfortable saying his piece, and Jane should (and does) feel comfortable disagreeing with him. The resulting discussion was an eye-opener for Jane. There is nothing more stimulating to the brain than a group of intelligent people exchanging differing thoughts on a topic...as long as they all appreciate the free speech principle of the discussion. Luckily for Jane, Kirsten Osolind at re:inventioninc came up with a terrific solution -- she has a link on her blog with the proper way to pitch her.
After joining in the back and forth at Peter Davidson's blog, Jane was informed by Michele Miller of Wonderbranding about a similar, but different, discussion going on at Tom Peter's blog. He generated a long scroll of comments on a Cingular ad a colleague sent him. An ad with a letter noting that "4 of the top 5 commercial banks use Cingular for wireless email." However, the picture accompanying the ad was devoid of Jane or any of her sisters. Tom Peters called the writers of the ad "idiots" and invited comment.
The last time Jane looked, there were 40 comments posted-- most of them in support of Tom's viewpoint, noting that women are an important part of the marketing landscape, so why weren't they included in that Cingular ad? Some comments, however, pointed out that marketing can't always be responsible for including EVERYONE in its ads. Multi-culturalism abounds, but it's hard to include every nationality, gender, race, group, etc. in one particular ad.
In each of these cases, the Internet was the vehicle used to create an environment that people could come to speak their mind without worrying about reprisal. Jane would like all of her readers to ponder this a bit. Why? Because as of last week, readers of Lip-sticking may have noticed that this blog is now accepting ads. We have joined Blogads and are happy to consider your ad for our blog. We will even consider ads we may not necessarily agree with in political persuasian or purpose. Free speech is free speech, after all.
Of course, we reserve the right to deny any ads we deem offensive.
Here are the criteria for placing an ad on Lip-sticking:
1. The ad must be relevant to readers. Our readers vary from young women, baby boomers, business men of all ages, to friends and relatives. Some support the same political party we do, some don't. Some read the same books we do, some don't. Some are in business, some aren't. All, we like to believe, are in favor of the 1st Amendment.
2. The ad must be professionally developed. Not necessarily snazzy, flashy, or Kodak perfect, but nicely done. With some thought given as to how it will display.
3. The ad must have a purpose: to bring in business, to encourage citizens to register to vote, to inform or to educate.
In our support of free speech we recognize the company's right to say what he or she pleases to market their business, but if they want to say it on OUR blog, we reserve the right to say, "No, thanks."
What's not to like about that?
Comments