The Other 3 Fingers

Why is it so difficult to see our own #wrongs

​About "What Litterers Tell Themselves"; "[I]t is often impossible to get people to acknowledge their own wrongdoings..."


In the same issue of the WSJ there was an article about Thomas Jefferson, having penned "All men are created equal" but he himself (before and after) continued to own slaves.

Having lived in LAfayette Square/Park in DC since July 9th last year; I've had the pleasure and displeasure of meeting many a "protester". The two most memorable is that of CodePink and Evangilist Melody Cromby US Presidential Candidate. Both are known for their truly excessive volume with notoriously small groups of listeners.

Both have proclaimed two reasons for their excessive volumes: (1) Others are just as loud or louder. (2) I have the 1st Amendment right.

What both of them (and many others; sometimes myself included) fails or refuse to comprehend; is that in public spaces, other people also have Rights protected by Amendment 9. For example, the right to not have to listen to EXCESSIVE Volume. 

If a protester uses a volume that can be heard in the entire park, and they have almost no other people than those of the protest itself; that volume is excessive--especially for those who do not want to hear it.

Thus, decibel-laws or anti-noise-laws can be enforced in accord with Amendment 9. The anti-noise laws cannot prohibit others from saying what they desire, but it can curb the volume at which they do speak.

The negative about Amendment 9 rights that are not specifically listed; is that government officials will, as they already have, overstep those constitutional limitations of power, without US Constitutional, Article 5, and/or Amendment 10 granted powers.

In short. Those Excessive-Noise Laws must attain Article 5 Amendment authorization to also help protect the rights of people, who, in public places, wish to not have their ears blasted with excessive noise. Thus, the amendment to free-speech would set a decibel-limit on volume, while not touching the content of the speech.