It is the soldier, not the reporter, who gives us the freedom of press....

[expatriot]

This is a bunch of BS!!!!

We only HAVE freedoms when they are exercised.

Every 2-bit nation has a military. Even a dictatorship's military defends its borders, fights for its interests, etc.

It is the REPORTER, the ACTIVIST, those who EXERCISE the freedoms that give us that freedom.

The soldier would defend our borders whether we were a democracy or not.

[JSJ]

1. well put, and i would further add that soldiers actually put our...

...freedom of the press and speech at risk.

[mr_du04]

2. I agree

now don't get me wrong the soldiers that died for us who were actually defending us played a large part in our freedoms but, without folks who standup to dictators like chimpy are the ones who truly keep us free.

[Ron Green]

3. Questions: What kind of soldier? What kind of reporter?

Is it the volunteer "mercenary" who has found a gung-ho way out of grinding poverty, or a conscripted and unwilling young man who reluctantly starts to understand what service to his nation means? Is it the idealistic journalist who follows a calling to find the truth and bring it to the people despite corrupt authority, or is it a bought-paid-for entertainer who delivers the company line of the shadowy bosses who direct him?

:shrug:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. Isn't that why they tried to shut down Sadr's paper?

[Gore1FL]

5. Actually

It is Ammendment 1 that gives us freedom off the press.

[sweetheart]

6. It is the citizen who demands freedom

The constitution is but a shredded paper, whereas you are living
flesh and blood. It is you who make free speech, and who demand
a free press.

By speaking up, you find out where you're wrong, and take a lotta
shit from people who disagree. But the content of debate is
not the issue, rather that good hearted women and men come forward
to make a point, and to tell it like they see it.

Only an educated citzen knows when the right has been taken,
and freedom of the press, and effective free speech is at a terrible
low given the plurality of conscience and the narrow views of the
corporate news-spinners.