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fucktoyprincess -> RE: Interesting Articles on Free Speech (10/16/2012 2:25:44 PM)
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I don't agree that free speech is dying. It is alive and well in the U.S. Again, other countries have chosen to define things differently. In some of these cases they are defining hate speech in ways that seem unobjectionable to me (e.g., Canada), in other countries (many European countries) they protect some hateful speech, but not others (which does seem objectionable). I do agree that many of the European laws are openly racist and hypocritical, and do not stand up to any kind of jurisprudential analysis.
Again, I support the First Amendment and how it has been interpreted in the U.S. And please let us be clear that all speech is NOT protected even in the U.S. For one example, child pornography is NOT protected speech.
Also, we have time and place restrictions even on other speech. For example, I would personally say that a person's freedom of speech should not allow a high school student to repeatedly bully a gay student in a public high school, even if the bullying is limited to verbal abuse. Let us not turn our notion of freedom of speech into an open-ended tolerance of what is simply bad behavior. After all, our notion of civil liberties is defined in relation to the rights of others (to attend school, to lead their lives, to be free from interference). Since when does freedom of speech allow bullies to reign supreme? It doesn't. And in many places in the US, there are anti-bullying laws currently in effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-bullying_legislation
Do these anti-bullying laws represent an erosion of free speech? Or do they represent a call for decency, and a respect for the victims right to live their lives free from harassment? Rights still need to be balanced. The Constitution does not ever envision a situation where rights are not balanced against each other.
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