Re: Freee Speech…
Reply #20 –
Since I create (and edit — hey!? Can you do that? I don't think so…) the titles of threads I start I have to assume others do as well.
In this case (as is likely in many others…) my particularly American (U.S.) viewpoint and focus may confuse others… (Sorry 'bout that.) But the topic -Free Speech- happens to be prominently mentioned to our 1st Amendment to our Constitution. It's important — to most of us.
In Great Britain, her dependencies, Europe and -almost- everywhere else in the world, our idea of Free Speech is rejected, rebutted, restricted, remonstrated or ridiculed: These others don't like it.
I respect their right to feel as they do. (As I bemoan their proclivity to adhere to their feelings…)
What I don't and won't accept is a "heckler's veto" eviscerating that 1st Amendment right to Free Speech. Not in the U.S. …
I began this thread with a story that continues to this day.
Should we have "hate speech" laws? Anti-defamation laws? Blasphemy laws? Laws banning (or sanctioning) "religious" insult?
You may not want to go as far as we did, originally. But dare you go as far as so many others will, eventually?
Free men will not submit to tyranny. (The corollary is that those who submit to tyranny are not free… Trust me on this: I know logic! )
Giving the power to circumscribe speech to your government means the end of whatever freedom you ever aspired to…
It's only a matter of time.
But of course freedom may not be something you need, or even want…