Do-Not-Call List: Should We Hang Up On It?

by Jesse Pohlman

Seven o'clock is a good time to eat dinner. Just as soon as you take that first bite into your favorite meal, the phone rings. You decide it could be an important call from your sibling or someone of that importance. You pick up the phone, hear a momentary pause after your initial "hello," and then a monotonous voice begins to ramble, "Thank you in advance for your time. This is a pre-recorded..." Click That's about all you hear of that.

Telemarketers nationwide are now in a court battle for what could be their industry's life. A national Do-Not-Call list, comprised of some 50 million households, is being fought over in our country's highest courts. The argument for the list is a rather distinct one; we will not buy your products because an advertiser says to, especially when you call us during dinner. The defense for the telemarketing industry is one that has been used for various other causes, both worthy and unworthy: under the First Amendment, we are free to speak however we wish and to whomever we wish. That, they argue, combined with the livelihood of large groups who would be left without jobs if this list becomes law, is why their unwilling audience is supposed to accept dinner time interuptions.

So where would a member of the telemarketing industry, speaking on a news show, get off saying "You'll miss us when we're gone," as if he were the nickel hot-dog or the truly-a-penny penny-candy? Who could argue that annoying dinnertime calls are not a part of modern-day Americana? (Not to be confused with an Offspring album)

The First Amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law. . . abridging the freedom of speech." It is often said that freedom of speech protects speech we don't like (after all, if we could ban what we don't like hearing, we'd never hear it!). Nevertheless we often turn away from speech we disagree with and certainly would feel oppressed if we were forced to adhere to these messages. People are supposed to be proactive and look for the speech they wish to hear, much like going to a lecture at a college, and they should not be pestered with advertisements by which they would never be interested in the first place.

So what, dear reader, should be done? I believe we all are annoyed with this bit of "Americana," yet are we really allowed to pull the plug on these people's message? Perhaps... perhaps not... the answer is somewhat elusive. The outcome of these court battles will shape the future of "protection under the First Amendment," and with current trends in government, those protections clearly need to be extended, not lessened. In this case, however, I think it's possible that these protections are being abused; nobody wants to hear your offer for a home estimate. Especially when you get crotchety over the fact that I don't. Why not do what normal people do at dinnertime? Eat dinner and don't pick up the phone.