Protecting First Amendment rights should be a primary focus of government officials and American citizens in order to encourage shared global knowledge and maintain a commitment to national progress, Narain Batra, communications professor at Norwich University, said at the Rockefeller Center on Tuesday. The lecture "First Amendment Freedoms and Innovative Behavior" addressed the ways in which freedom of speech is linked to the development of new ideas and the modern market economy.
First Amendment rights are inextricably connected to the development of "global brain power" and "increased innovation and growth" both of which are necessary for America to retain its position of power in the 21st century, Batra said.
"There is enough empirical evidence to support the view that the First Amendment and innovation do go together," he said.
Individuals can challenge conventional boundaries and promote societal growth only when all citizens embrace governmental efforts to protect basic rights, according to Batra.
"The building blocks are there, the question is how are you going to use your imagination to put them together," Batra said.
Collaborations between different public and private corporations are impossible in other countries that do not prioritize the continuous exchange of new ideas between industries, Batra said. While many of these agreements like the partnership between Apple and Nike are unlikely, they would encourage innovation, according to Batra.
Apple and Nike successfully merged their industries by creating a sensor that is placed in running shoes and synchs with an iPod. The device allows individuals to monitor their exercise routines and program "power songs" for added motivation during difficult segments of their workouts, according to Batra.
First Amendment rights have allowed various pop culture icons such as Lady Gaga and Stephen Colbert to challenge conventional standards of appropriateness and keep people "in an age of messiness," Batra said.
In order for "creative destruction" a natural process that ultimately encourages progress but excludes those industries that refuse to innovate to ultimately benefit society, the United States needs "a zone of unregulated behavior" in which free speech and expression are not restricted, Batra said.
Batra warned against repeating past mistakes, citing various historical examples in which the government limited individuals' First Amendment rights in the name of democracy. The Sedition Act of 1918, for example, prohibited the use of "disloyal, profane, scurrilous or abusive language" when referring to the U.S. government, its flag or its armed forces, according to Batra.
Fear of the unknown is not a justifiable excuse for restricting First Amendment rights, according to Batra. The 1927 U.S. Supreme Court case "Whitney v. California" in which the court decided that states have the right to prohibit speech deemed threatening to the government legalizes these practices even though such restrictions should still be considered harmful to American society, Batra added.
"Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly," Batra said, quoting the dissenting opinion of Justice Louis Brandeis in the case. "Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears."
