Friday, April 9, 2010

Poisoning people in the name of Free Speech

Today when trying to catch up on the various blogs I read (it has been a busy week), I ran across something I just did not understand. Over on Seth Godin's blog, he mentions a newspaper story about the posting of letter scores for health inspections. In the entry, he mentions that one restauranteer said that the mandatory posting for health inspections is a violation of free speech of the restaurant owner. Say what?!

Only in New York City, I guess.

I do not see how the government posting your health inspection scores is a violation of free speech. And I am a writer who spent ten years running a restaurant (and ten more just working in them). Free speech has nothing to do with poisoning people.

Saying that posting scores is a violation of free speech is like saying that news media reporting on the Tiger Woods cheating scandal was violating Tiger's rights of free speech. At best, it is slander or libel (I am always confused which one is which).

Does anyone really think that having rats and flys in your restaurant is something that has anything to do with free speech? How about improperly thawed and cooked chicken? Or employees not washing their hands?

This is just a lame threat from someone looking for a rock big enough to allow him to continue endanger the lives and health of other human beings. Forget free speech---just make sure that your food does not make me sick or die; that way, either one of us has anything to worry about.

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