我從不關心政治，直到去年，兩名全副武裝的美國警官敲開我的家門，給我送達了一張國會的傳票。作為一名醫科學生，我曾在斯坦福大學用胎兒組織進行過研究，目的是拯救嚴重心臟缺陷患兒的生命。但很可惜，這項研究引起了眾議院嬰兒生命選擇調查委員會主席瑪莎·布萊克本的憤怒。

這兩位警官把我從睡夢中驚醒。這次貨真價實的“叫醒服務”讓我意識到，科學除了試管和白大褂，還涉及到許多方面。其中的社會和政治因素，是科研人員無法忽視的。

所以，我開始研究社交媒體，希望在政治上發出我的聲音。很快我便發現在唐納德·特朗普總統的推文下面，有許多充滿活力的對話。那里就像是一個全國論壇，即使我那個默默無聞的推特賬戶發出的聲音，也會有大批聽眾。如果社交媒體是海洋，總統先生的推特就是不同海域交匯的地方。它的力量、美麗和混亂，正是言論自由的縮影。

在我發給特朗普的推文中，第一條被廣為傳播的是一幅政治漫畫，慶祝第九巡回法院駁回了穆斯林旅行禁令的裁定。這條推文收到了超過2,000個贊。幾天后，我評論了“美國歷史上最嚴重的一次政治迫害”，說這是針對女性的“塞勒姆女巫審判”。這條推文得到了4,000多個贊，并登上推特時刻。我第一次感覺自己的聲音得到了傾聽。

然后，總統先生把我拉黑了。

讓他拉黑我的那條推文，既沒有侮辱性的字眼，也不粗俗。我只是說：“Covfefe： 那個不校對自己推特的人，掌握著美國的核武按鈕?！痹谖冶豢偨y先生拉黑之前，這條推文得到了1,000多個贊。

許多人可能感覺被總統拉黑是一種榮譽，但我并不這樣想。事實上，我感覺這是一種孤立。數以百萬計的美國人可以訪問這個公共論壇，但我現在卻被排除在外。

另外一位被特朗普拉黑的推特用戶霍利·菲格羅亞·奧萊利介紹我認識了哥倫比亞大學第一修正案騎士團的首席律師凱蒂·法洛。在與法洛討論了我的情況后，我同意加入起訴總統拉黑我和其他用戶的行列。我們認為，總統拒絕我們瀏覽和回復他的推文，違反了第一修正案賦予我們的權利。

特朗普曾多次表示，他有“非常強大的社交媒體”，這是避開傳統媒體直接與人民對話的一個渠道。他的兒子小唐納德·特朗普甚至用推特直接向公眾披露了與俄羅斯律師之間爆炸性的電子郵件。雖然美國的開國元勛們并沒有預見到推特等社交媒體的出現，但他們很清楚言論自由對民主政治的重要性。如果美國總統可以禁止美國公民閱讀他在報紙或圖書中發布的公告，開國者們肯定會出離憤怒。

現在，我們已經把這些權利擴大到了電視和廣播。如果推特成為例外，以后還會出現更多新技術，又該怎么辦？阻止美國公民閱讀總統的通信內容，將威脅美國的民主、自由和未來。

本文作者尤金·古為范德堡大學醫療中心的住院醫師，同時擔任Ganogen研究院院長兼CEO。（財富中文網）??

譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

I never cared about politics until last year, when two armed U.S. marshals banged on my door to serve me a congressional subpoena. As a medical student, I had performed research with fetal tissue at Stanford University to save the lives of babies with severe heart defects. Unfortunately, that research raised the ire of Marsha Blackburn, chairwoman of the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives.

I was asleep when the marshals startled me out of bed. The literal wake-up call made me realize that science involved more than just test tubes and white coats. There is a social and political component that cannot be ignored.

So I delved into social media to speak out politically. Soon I discovered the vibrant conversations under President Donald Trump's tweets. It was like a national forum where even my small Twitter account could reach a large audience. If social media was an ocean, this was where the president chummed the waters. It was the epitome of free speech in all its power, beauty, and chaos.

My first viral tweet to Trump was a political cartoon celebrating the Ninth Circuit Court's decision to reverse the Muslim travel ban. It got over 2,000 likes. A few days later I made a comment about how the "greatest witch hunt in American history" was the Salem witch trials against women. That tweet got over 4,000 likes and was featured on Twitter Moments. For the first time, it felt like I was finally being heard.

Then the president blocked me.

The tweet that supposedly triggered him was neither abusive nor vulgar. I simply said, "Covfefe: the same guy who doesn't proofread his Twitter handles the nuclear button." It got over 1,000 likes before he hit the block button.

While many may feel that it is a badge of honor to be blocked by the president, it certainly does not feel like that to me. In fact, it feels isolating. Millions of Americans have access to a public forum from which I am now excluded.

Holly Figueroa O'Reilly, another Twitter user blocked by Trump, introduced me to Katie Fallow, lead attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. After discussing my situation with Fallow, I agreed to join a lawsuit against the president to unblock me and many others. We believe it is a violation of our First Amendment rights for the president to exclude us from viewing and responding to his tweets.

Trump stated multiple times that his "very powerful social media" was a way to circumvent traditional media and talk directly to the people. Even his son Donald Trump Jr. used Twitter to disclose his explosive emails with a Russian lawyer directly to the public. While America’s founding fathers may not have envisioned something like Twitter, they certainly knew the importance of free speech to a democracy. They would have been outraged if the president could ban an American citizen from reading his announcements in a newspaper or book.

We have now extended those rights to both television and radio. If Twitter is somehow exempt, so too will be many new and emerging technologies. Blocking private citizens from reading a president’s communications threatens our democracy, our freedoms, and our future.

Eugene Gu is a resident physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and president and CEO of the Ganogen Research Institute.