Free speech quagmire
Strike the Root
by David MacGregor
02/28/06
The 'currency' of free speech has also been devalued over recent years, with the gradual erosion of rights in this regard. Now we find that free speech is fine -- as long as you don't use it to offend anyone, like uttering stereotypical opinions about gays, lesbians, Hispanics, feminists, right or left-wingers, the unemployed, solo mothers, fat people, macho males, Asians, and other assorted targets. Then, of course, there's the Orwellian-sounding war on 'hate speech' -- whatever that is. So we're left with a sort of emasculated free speech -- free speech in name only. Free speech for wimps. Which brings me to the point of this essay: Do you have the right to utter, draw, write, record or otherwise make public your own personal opinions? And do you have the right to have access to such opinions of others? And my answer is yes. For if this right is curtailed, then it is just the beginning of a slippery slope to full censorship. Once you accept the principle of 'limited' free speech, then it's only a matter of time before the limits become more and more onerous, until one day you wake up and the limits are total...
http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/macgregor/macgregor3.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
by David MacGregor
02/28/06
The 'currency' of free speech has also been devalued over recent years, with the gradual erosion of rights in this regard. Now we find that free speech is fine -- as long as you don't use it to offend anyone, like uttering stereotypical opinions about gays, lesbians, Hispanics, feminists, right or left-wingers, the unemployed, solo mothers, fat people, macho males, Asians, and other assorted targets. Then, of course, there's the Orwellian-sounding war on 'hate speech' -- whatever that is. So we're left with a sort of emasculated free speech -- free speech in name only. Free speech for wimps. Which brings me to the point of this essay: Do you have the right to utter, draw, write, record or otherwise make public your own personal opinions? And do you have the right to have access to such opinions of others? And my answer is yes. For if this right is curtailed, then it is just the beginning of a slippery slope to full censorship. Once you accept the principle of 'limited' free speech, then it's only a matter of time before the limits become more and more onerous, until one day you wake up and the limits are total...
http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/macgregor/macgregor3.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
rudkla - 1. Mär, 17:26
