March 04, 2006

Free Speech v. The Simpsons

A very important and very scientifically illuminating survey by something called the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that Americans are far more familiar with the names of the family members of “The Simpsons” than they are with the rights guaranteed under The First Amendment. The study found that 22% of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just 1 in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms. (Bet you didn’t know there are five freedoms under the First Amendment. Yup, there’s one they never told us about — the freedom to petition for redress of grievances. Only 1% of survey respondents could name this one, and our guess is that this 1% was composed of constitutional scholars.) But that’s not the best part: one in five people believed that “the right to own a pet” is guaranteed under the First Amendment. (Hat tip to J.D. Lasica.)

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)