Obviously, from one of my previous posts, I still strongly believe in our Constitutional Rights as Americans. Freedom of religion, of speech and of expression are biggies with me. On occasion, I feel so strongly about something that I feel the need to share my opinion with others, hence the blog. Last week, I decided that one of my blogs--Bad Apples--was worthy to send into the New London Day as a Letter to the Editor. Much to my surprise, I was called this past Thursday by someone at The Day, letting me know that my letter would be printed in its entirety, not as a letter to the editor, but as a guest commentary. She told me that it would be in Monday's edition. I was thrilled, and happy that an objective mind thought my writing worthy to print as such.
This morning I found my commentary. The editors had changed the title. "Okay", I told myself, "don't overreact." Then I started reading. Some sentences were changed and some were omitted. Some of the words were changed. I was shocked. None of these sentences nor the words were offensive or hurtful to anyone. It has bothered me all day and I keep going over it and over it in my mind. Did we suddenly submit to a socialist regime, maybe become communist overnight? Maybe just the newspapers have...
"Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging freedom of speech..." Does anyone recognize this quote? Its the first amendment to the Bill of Rights. The Day had no right, in my opinion, to alter my commentary to suit their needs. They shoud have told me that some parts will have to be altered or omitted, and then maybe they would have had to find another guest commentator. As long as I'm still an American, I will endulge in the freedoms that others have instilled and fought for.
That's BS!
ReplyDelete