Don’t Know Much About the First Amendment

Posted on by Filed under 1st Amendment, Constitution, Culture, Entertainment

I was not surprised when it was reported that more people are familiar with pop culture than the Constitution. The article states that “only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family” The Simpsons.[1]

“(1) Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or (2) abridging the freedom of speech, or (3) of the press; or (4) the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and (5) to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The study was conducted by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum which “found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms. . . . The survey found more people could name the three ‘American Idol’ judges than identify three First Amendment rights. They were also more likely to remember popular advertising slogans.”

We shouldn’t be surprised at any of this since most Americans have never studied the Constitution, and it seems that judges don’t much about the Constitution in general. When’s the last time you heard someone actually quote the First Amendment’s first freedom accurately? It’s always “the separation of church and state,” almost never the actual text.

If people know more about The Simpsons than the Constitution, then why not use the characters of the Simpson household to help students learn the five freedoms of the First Amendment?

Memory is the ability to link what a person knows with what he or she wants to know and retain to be recalled at a later time. Memory expert David M. Roth, writing in 1918, observed that “We can remember only through relation, through association of ideas, because that is the way the normal human mind works, and no one can change it. Practically all mental action and development are based on the Association of Ideas and the use of visual faculty.”[2] Since millions of people can identify the five Simpson characters, why not link this knowledge to what they don’t know — the five freedoms of the First Amendment.

Homer Simpson and the Freedom of Religion: Next to Ned Flanders, Homer is the most religious character on the show. While his theories about God and religion are a bit mixed up, he does not doubt God’s existence. The Simpsons even attend church. While Homer might disagree with Flanders on any number of things, including religion, deep down he admires his neighbor. “If everyone here were like Ned Flanders, there’d be no need for heaven,” Homer says. “We’d already be there.”

Marge and Freedom of Speech: In the December 25, 2004 Christmas Special, Marge Simpson, as the Queen of England, delivers an alternative Christmas speech. Freedom of speech has not always been as accessible as it is today. The creators of The Simpsons might have been jailed or worse for mocking aspects of British society.

Bart Simpson and Freedom of the Press: Bart is often shown writing on a blackboard as punishment for something he has written or said. While we might not like it when Bart wrote “The Christmas pageant stinks,” he has a right to express himself without fear of reprisals. Unpopular ideas are protected by the First Amendment, whether spoken or written. Even though we have the freedom to say and write whatever we want, excluding the excesses of slander, it isn’t always the responsible thing to do. Bart’s repeated trips to the blackboard are evidence that being impolitic has its repercussions.

Lisa Simpson and the Right to Assemble: Lisa is the show’s liberal voice. She is a self-described “ovo-lacto-vegentarian” (no eggs, no dairy, no meat) and a fan of National Public Radio. She makes her views known to all who will listen. Through her activism in assembling others to join her cause, Lisa has solved a number of problems in Springfield.

Maggie Simpson and the Redress of Grievances: Homer, tucking Maggie in for the night, says: “The sooner kids talk, the sooner they talk back. I hope you never say a word.” Governments hope the people keep their grievances to themselves, that they are content to be pacified by government programs. When Maggie does express herself, it’s always something important. When Homer shuts the door after saying that he hopes Maggie never says a word,” she pulls the pacifier out of her mouth and says her first word: “Daddy."

These five constitutional freedoms are the foundation of our nation. They are what separate us from every other nation in the world. If we have to use The Simpsons to teach them, then so be it.

From Around the Web
Notes:
  1. Anna Johnson, “First Amendment? ‘D’oh!’ We’re Clueless,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (March 1, 2006), A10. Also see “Homer Simpson, Yes; First Amendment? ‘Doh,” Editor and Publisher (March 1, 2006). For a different take on the survey, see “Freedom of Speech: More Famous than Bart Simpson” (March 3, 2006). [↩]
  2. David M. Roth, Roth Memory Course: A Simple and Scientific Method of Improving the Memory and Increasing Mental Health (New York: The Sun Dial Press, [1918] 1934), 1. [↩]

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  • deeme

    How about we mix pop culture with some really important facts and see how it goes..I guess they are too bored with FREEDOM , for their own good..
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uZfRaWAtBVg

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NLORN6B3ZNGCAJTFHWWFUUEY4Q jong

    I would like to see this done with the entire Constitution to the point were it goes the other way around and you can relate knowing the cartoon characters by knowing the Constitution.

  • dontlikeit?changethechannel!

    "I'm not normally a praying man, but if you are up there, please save me, Superman!"
    - Homer Simpson

  • drdwhiz

    Actually, a lacto-ovo-vegitarian is a vegitarian who also eats eggs and milk products. A vegitarian, also known as a vegan, is one who avoids all animal products,including eggs and milk.
    Your article is otherwise well put. Once upon a time our education system did fairly well in teaching these vital lessons. We obviously do the jobs poorly today.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.zimmerman.77 Joe Zimmerman

    Say thank you to all the socialist/communist/liberal teachers who have brainwashed our children ,,

    • LeSellers

      It's not the "socialist/communist/liberal teachers" who've done this. It's the very existence of government-run, tax-funded (grtf, aka welfare) schools. They were, from their very beginning in 1854, indoctrination centers, designed to divide children from their fathers' morals and religion. That's what Horace Mann called for and that's what he found in Prussia, whence he imported the Kaiser's system.

      • kevin

        It's not the government that's at fault here. It doesn't matter what the school teaches. Contrary to popular belief it is not the responsibility of the school to ensure our children's education it is the parents.

        • LeSellers

          Government has usurped that authority. We hear, whenever "home schooling' is mentioned, "Don't try this at home. It's a job for PROFESSIONALS."

          Only when parents recapture the inherent authority and responsibility of educating their children will we have the least chance of saving this country. When the government acknowledged its lack of legitimately controling religion, it took only a decade to control schools. Coincidence? I don't see how. Government wants to compel belief and thought. As soon as it stopped doing the former, it began doing the latter.

          In short, government does not trust people to make "good" decisions. By "good", of course, it means "actions WE support, no others need apply".

          That's why government runs schools, and why it ran churches. It has no business doing either.

        • kevin

          The government can control what happens in schools it cannot control what happens at home. My fondest memories growing up where the long and sometimes heated debates I had with my mother on the drive home from school. Politics, philosophy, theology, history, even religion. I learned so much more at the dinner table than I ever did in school. So much so that when I was sixteen I dropped out to go to college. My mother learned it from her father and i will do the same with my children. If you teach your children to think for themselves schools cannot indoctrinate.

        • LeSellers

          That's all true, and I am the last to dispute it WHEN IT HAPPENS.

          However, it happens all too seldom. The "whys" are clear:
          * Government has, through taxation, confiscated the means by which people could teach their own children

          * It has usurped the authority of defining what "education" is, so that even when a rare family does exercise its responsibility, it has to jump through the state's hoops anyway

          * Schools have an agenda (to make docile citizens) and require that even the most energetic family must allow its children to regurgitate the "right answer" tested.

          * It has aggressively announced that parents are incompetent to educate, or even to raise, children.

          Yes, a mother and father CAN raise truly educated children, but the odds are against them. And that is the point of government-run, tax-funded (grtf, aka welfare) schools and has been since their beginning in 1854. Rather than unteach what they learn in the state's youth concetration camps, why not opt for an alternative education for your children (not speaking of you, specifically, but in the plural — in general)? It's easier to teach correct principles in the first place than rip highly ingrained thoughts planted there by authority figures like the bureaucrats we call "teachers", and then try to replace the weeds with useful plants/thoughts.

          GRTF-Welfare schools do not exist to educate children, they exist for the convenience of the politicians an bureaucrats.

        • LeSellers

          Oh, I ought not ignore the fact that government very much DOES control some of what goes on at home. They call it homework. It has the "advantage" of getting mom'n'dad involved in the indoctrination of their own children.

          So we cannot say tha t the state does not control what goes on at home. It does, and it does by demanding that people not even on the clutches of the school itself.

        • Michaellaborde

          We live in an age that pier pressure, media, government, education and misinformation rule the children. Get your children home schooled, and into a bible believing, God worshiping and community active church.

        • kevin

          don't get me wrong I've got nothing against homeschooling, in fact it is the reason I was able to do what I did. after I was expelled from high school I taught myself through and went to college early. the problem is homeschooling is hard on kids. it's lonely, even with the support of the church. the best solution is to start early, be supportive of curiosity, even if it hurts their grades. if your kid wants to stay up and stargaze let em. if they see something in their history book they want to explore farther let em, even if it means ignoring homework. most importantly never under estimate a simple conversation, or even just a question. keep asking questions eventually they'll be curios about the answer.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/4ENB63ODGUC7YAF5EKZLEAWIAE Mary

    Years ago in history class the kids were taught American history, the Declaration, & the Constitution. But that's all moot now since the progressives took over the education system and rewrote history & text books.

  • dontlikeit?changethechannel!

    "Save me Jebus!"
    - Homer Simpson

  • Rocky Frisco

    Wrong! “ovo-lacto-vegetarian” does NOT mean (no eggs, no dairy, no meat). It means a Vegetarian who DOES eat eggs and dairy.

  • http://www.facebook.com/dustin.w.taunton Dustin W. Taunton

    Turn off your TV's America and tune in to whats going on around you.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Mills/1387372799 James Mills

    Well its the move toward foolish vs wisdom --isn't it? Foolishness--the end is shame--wisdom the end is honor--what a stark contrast. We have a nation--that has not instructed our children in wisdom!!! Nor themselves.

  • LeSellers

    Once, as a major in the Army Reserve, I was talking with another major in the hallway about some arcane constitutional principle when a young woman captain came by and casually said, "The Constitution? I've never read it."

    I was floored!!

    My reply was not politically correct. I said something like "You took an OATH to 'uphold and defend the Constitution of the united States of America', and you haven't even READ it?!"

    This was nearly twenty years ago (I've been retired for almost TWO decades? How'd THAT happen?!), so children's being uneducated about the Founders and their work is hardly a recent phenomenon.

    But far from the worst problem is "white" ignorance. The "black" variety is much the greater danger. It's appalling what people THINK is in the Document, but which is not. There is no "separation of church and state". We all have heard that error. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" ain't in there neither! The Constitution does NOT grant us any rights (it only gives Congress powers, and that's the total opposite of the false assumption). The War Powers Act is not what the Fathers had in mind. Congress has NO POWER to regulate arms. The fact that the II prohibits the abridgement of the RIGHT of the people to keep and bear arms is redundant. No one has ever shown that Congress has that power in the first place. (Quite the contrary, it actually says that every family MUST HAVE a weapon at home, ready for use in defending "the security of a free state".)

    We ought never forget that O'bama was a "professor" of "Constitutional Law". Obviously, reading the Law is not enough to understand it. It takes much more, especially when no one alive today can ask those who wrote it. We are reduced to reading their expositions on the matter, and all such are open to interpretation, even when such interpretation is hardly needed in the face of open debate in the form of the Federalist and the "anti-federalist" in New York (and other) newspapers during ratification (not to mention elsewhere).

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OC6SKJLQDZEY674X7VRYBWH6AI Tom

      @ Le Sellers : A fellow student at a Police Academy class kept on insisting there was a "seperation of church and state" in our Constitution. I bet her that if she could find that in the Constitution, by the end of the week, I would buy her the used car of her choice at up to $3,500; a fine car back then. She searched, but, of course, by weeks end she had not found that which does not exist.. I should have insisted that if I won the bet, I would be car shopping with her money. Her High School teachers and College professors had repeated the "seperation" lie enough for her to believe it. Turn off the Simpsons and read your Bible and Constitution !

      • http://www.facebook.com/irene.eggers Irene Eggers

        My daughter heard of an similar case, but the person who thought "separation of church and state" is in the Constitution was a lawyer. Yes, a lawyer who had never read the Constitution. What in blazes in in the bar exam?

        • blaineiac

          Bar exam? A test on the fundamentals of "mixology"!

      • Screeminmeeme

        Tom....An entire generation has been raised by a progressive school system to be slack-jawed, obedient followers of the left. They have not been taught how to critically think through ideas and concepts and arrive at their own conclusions.

        Joseph Goebbels said.....If you repeat a lie enough times, there will always be those who believe it....it will become the truth.

        This is one of Obama's major tactics. He knows that most of his sycophants can't think for themselves and will believe any lie he tells.....a very nice thing for a pathological liar. They are just too lazy, too comfortable to do their due diligence and ferret out the facts.

        Of course, it IS difficult for those poor folks to read newspapers, flip pages and google facts when they always have their hands out.

    • victoryman

      Major, with all due respect, Obama was not a "Professor," he was a part-time lecturer. The "Professor" title was created out of whole cloth by the Obama propaganda machine with the complicity of the state run media. "Tell a lie often enough......" Your description of people's understanding (Or, non-understanding) of our sacred documents is right on the mark. It is apathy and a lack of teaching in our schools perhaps that prompted the response from the young Captain, shocking as it may have been. I'm sure the same scenario would be repeated today.
      As one veteran to another, I salute you sir, and thank you for your sevice to our country.

      • LeSellers

        I did put "professor" in quotes. I hope that wasn't too subtle.

        You are welcome to the service I rendered. I wish it had been more because I love this country. I have to: We have 30 grandchildren, so I have as large a stake in the outcome of our political process as anyone I know. We did not raise seven children so their offspring would be slaves to the loafers in my generation.

        • Screeminmeeme

          LeSellers....Well said.

    • Screeminmeeme

      Le Sellers....First, thank you for your service.

      Second, although Obama was supposed to be a professor teaching constitutional law, the other teachers at the university detested him...he would never show up for classes or meetings, according to them. No one has ever come forward to say that they were in his class.

      And apparently, he got the job because someone with power and influence demanded that he be given a some kind of teaching position.

      It was a coerced job to be used to add to the biographical narrative that was being fabricated for Barry.

    • Jillilou

      He was not a professor. he was a quest lecturer.

      • LeSellers

        As I said earlier, I used quotation marks for "professor". Obviously, I need to make my meaning clearer, and not rely on sarcasm and scare quotes.

        One wonders, however, if a "quest lecturer" is merely searching for a constitution to denigrate, or if he is searching for what's IN the Document.

        I believe we have ample evidence of which O'bama was.

  • dondh

    This president and far too many professors and teachers either don't have a clue about any of the Consitutional Amendments or they are purposely legislating and teaching according to their own philosophies. This is why America is heading in the wrong direction since 2008 and whenever these professors and teachers started misleading their students! Also adding to this catastrophy are those liberal congresspersons like pelosi, reid, leahy, sharpton, etc. who need to be removed from their positions if they can't do their jobs according to our Constitution!

  • Dean

    As a substitute teacher I have many opportunities to sub for history and goverment classes. I am often disheartenerd by the fact the many teachers do not have students read and thoroughly discuss the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. I was even told by one teacher that I did not have the right to interject questions about those two topics and answer questions the students might ask about the topics since it was not in the lesson plan.
    I asked him if he knew what rights the First Amendment gave all of us and I told him that my freedom of speech idid not stop at the front door of the school and definitely not at the classroom door. That was the end of the conversation on this particular incident.

    • LeSellers

      When I did it, it was also the end of my availability as a sub. I got zero calls after that incident.

  • dontlikeit?changethechannel!

    "Suppose we've chosen the wrong god. Every time we go to church we're just making him madder and madder."
    - Homer Simpson

  • Bumbury

    why would anybody be surprised that our kids and young adults know more about pop culture than the constitution... The liberal Media, Schools, Professors and Gov are trying to and succeeding at disassociating the youth from the history of this great republic.. Why you ask... because it's easier to destroy the constitution and The declaration of Independence if the people/masses dont know what the documents say or the rights provided to them by them...

    You cant have a Free Republic without the Constitution and DOI.. these documents were designed to limit the power of the Government not the limitations of the People.. Communist and socialist peoples dont understand that concept... But We the People Do and so do Governments and the governing Elite...

    So the government run schools are dumbing down our youth and trying to become their parents and when parents allow that thru complacency than we get where we are at now... People wonder why Christian families are home schooling so much.... aside from many other reasons you can add this one...

  • SomewhereInTexas

    Civics is no longer taught in most high schools. End government schools. They are nothing but cesspools of unionized leftists. Their only goal is to further dumb down Americans (if that's possible) and destroy the nation. SECEDE.

  • gsr

    501c3 was a major breach of this one.

  • http://twitter.com/SilasLongshot Silas Longshot

    The lack of Constitutional knowledge is part and parcel of the federally mandated "educational guidelines" laid down for American schools. If you are ignorant of the Constitution, you are ignorant of your rights, accepting what the elite wish you to believe are your rights. Back 'in my day', we at least were taught enough American history to have an idea what we're about as a country and basic stuff like the high points of the Constitution.
    surviving urban crisis

  • dontlikeit?changethechannel!

    "Oh, everything's too damned expensive these
    days. This Bible cost 15 bucks! And talk about a preachy book! Everybody's
    a sinner! Except this guy."
    - Homer Simpson

  • Robert

    The history of America and all of her founding documents and beliefs have been taken away from our children that are being indoctrinated in our public school systems. The Social Progressives have worked long and hard to produce two generations of illiterate young people who have absolutely no idea of what it means to be an American, what your rights are as American, but most importantly what are your responsibilities as an American.
    Any Dictator knows that one of the most important things to do to maintain control of the population is to make sure that they are stupid, illiterate, and totally dependent on his government to survive .That is rule once and rule 2 is to make sure that any portion of the society who realizes what is wrong and the injustices being carried out can do nothing about it ,why because he disarms the people before they have a chance to wake up and see what he's is doing .
    Guess what, welcome to the new America of hope and change , the new Obama- Topia.

  • Blair

    Except for one episode of The Simpsons, in of the early seasons, Maggie Simpson has NEVER said a word. The one word she's said in the past 20+ years? Mama. As for Mike
    Judge, the creator of the Simpsons, and King of the Hill, is a character in the Axis of Time
    trilogy.

  • dontlikeit?changethechannel!

    "Dear Lord: The gods have been good to me. For the first time in my life, everything is absolutely perfect just the way it is. So here's the deal: You freeze everything the way it is, and I won't ask for anything more. If that is OK, please give me absolutely no sign. OK, deal. In gratitude, I present you this offering of cookies and milk. If you want me to eat them for you, give me no sign. Thy will be done."
    - Homer Simpson

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=516859771 John Sweet

    and I am sure some school out there will use that as the lesson plan for the Constitutional study day.

  • Michaellaborde

    The young and the dumb have been mesmerised and put to sleep by educational tyranny, hollywood and self love. They only see what is in their immediate surroundings and what their buddies tell them. They have been hem hawed into believing utopia can sprout from humanity and are lulled into their own frying pan. And of course the lame stream media has also aided and abetted in the destruction of truth. What is needed is a true revival and a regeneration of our founding core values of God and Country.

  • dontlikeit?changethechannel!

    "I don't even believe in Jebus!"
    - Homer Simpson

  • Michael

    "In paper we trust", the paper of the constitution. How has that worked out for us? Leaders turn their backs to the Triune God of the Bible and forsook His ways. They did evil in the sight of God. Now, repent and humble ourselves before Him.

  • dontlikeit?changethechannel!

    "God bless those pagans"
    - Homer Simpson

  • JacktheFAC

    I have often wondered why the so-called "news" media considers their part of the the First Amendment (Freedom of the Press) more sacrosant than my part of that same amendment (freedom of religion and freedom of speech).