Question: What do all these things have in common?
A high school teacher sends several emails to a parent saying “I worry that if your son’s performance in my French class does not improve, he is likely to receive a failing grade for the course.”
A political activist posts several updates on Facebook claiming that the election of a certain candidate would lead to military defeat, burdensome taxes, and cultural collapse.
A newspaper publishes several editorials on its website discussing with some righteous anger and in some detail the wickedness of a convicted criminal’s actions.
A father sends his teenage daughter several text messages informing her that she would be grounded for the weekend unless her room was clean by the time he got home.
Answer: doing any of those things could get you sent to jail under a new “cyberbullying” law that the Arkansas General Assembly passed this week. For more information about what is arguably the most thoughtless and most unconstitutional law that the state legislature produced this session, click here and read “Will SB 214 Make Everybody In Arkansas A Cyberbully?”
The Advance Arkansas Institute is a nonprofit research and educational organization committed to advancing public policy based on free markets, individual liberty, and limited, transparent government. The Institute is led by its President, attorney and former state legislator Dan Greenberg. If you have any questions, please contact Dan Greenberg at 501-588-4245.
