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Padriag -> RE: What does "Free Speech" mean to you? (4/20/2008 9:07:21 AM)
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Personally I find it slightly amusing that society has reached the point where either the act of simply making a threat, or of inciting hatred are considered crimes.
If someone threatens to shoot me, they have still done no actual harm to me... perhaps they intend to do so, perhaps its just empty words (more often in my experience, its simply bluster). While it might upset or annoy me, it has not harmed me... why make it a crime?
Likewise, if I were to say,"I think all Irishmen are drunken worthless sots who ought to be hanged, why you folks ought to go get your ropes and guns and knives and hunt'em all down!" What harm have I actually done... other than to myself considering I am an Irishman! LOL No one is obligated to listen to me, much less take me serious, much less actually act on what I say. If someone does act on it, is it not that individual we should hold responsible for their actions, their choice to act on the remarks of someone else?
This is where I differ, apparently from much of the western world, my view is more on personal responsibility and less on making someone else culpable for my own stupidity.
If I harm you, I alone am responsible... I made the choice, regardless of whomever may have influenced me. I alone am responsible for all I say and do... no one else.
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