It's not how I "feel" about the 1st Amendment. It just is what it is.
No one says you don't have a right to free speech. You absolutely do. What I think you're failing to see here, is that the 1st Amendment provides you with protection to speak out against your government - not private individuals, institutions, etc.
Even in the private sector, anyone's allowed to say whatever they like, but they must be willing to accept whatever negative reactions those statements trigger in others.
These aren't new concepts, and they're not my opinion. They've been with us for 240 years now.
Phil’s First Amendment Rights are being violated by A&E.
No....they're not. Only the government can violate your 1st Amendment right to free speech. A&E has done a despicable thing by punishing Phil Robertson for speech they find offensive, but they haven't violated his right to freely speak his mind.
Don't forget that they also have an implied right of free association, as do we all. If they don't like Phil Robertson's company, they have every right to discontinue such association.
Now, they're obviously going to pay a high price for the way they chose to separate themselves from Phil, but that's what I mean when I say that we all have to be willing to accept the negative consequences of our spoken words. We also must be willing to accept any negative reactions to the choices we make in our associations.
That's freedom.
You may want to revisit your history books. Or do you think that the progressives at our universities that steal or burn campus newspapers and intimidate both speakers and audience members do not abridge first amendment rights? Or are those thugs merely exuberantly expressing their rights to free speech?
But A&E having a contractual relationship with the Robertsons may have perfectly legal constraints regarding what happened. I don't know any of the terms of contract. That said A&E I suspect is not only cowardly but terminally stupid.