Freedom of Speech
There had been some things in the new that brought up freedom of speech issues again. One was the trial against those crazies who picket outside soldiers' funerals to say that that it's good the soldiers are dead because it's our punishment for being ok with gay people (?????). I actually didn't realize this, but the funerals they protest are often not gay soldiers or anything. They are chosen at random.
The second is a trial going on in the Netherlands with a person inciting hate by his method of talking. This is a guy similar to a Fox News shock jockey talking about how evil Muslims are and how they are coming to kill your kids, stuff like that. Not that dis-similar with what we were seeing here in America. His followers were responding with hate crimes. Their actions are clearly wrong, but can the government silence someone based on the potential for the speech to cause a hate crime type of violence?
My feelings are mixed. On the one hand, both of these things seem clearly wrong and it is bad that they are happening. On the other, any kind of regulation to the 1st amendment can be a slippery slope and open up potential arguements to limit it further.
What are your thoughts?
The second is a trial going on in the Netherlands with a person inciting hate by his method of talking. This is a guy similar to a Fox News shock jockey talking about how evil Muslims are and how they are coming to kill your kids, stuff like that. Not that dis-similar with what we were seeing here in America. His followers were responding with hate crimes. Their actions are clearly wrong, but can the government silence someone based on the potential for the speech to cause a hate crime type of violence?
My feelings are mixed. On the one hand, both of these things seem clearly wrong and it is bad that they are happening. On the other, any kind of regulation to the 1st amendment can be a slippery slope and open up potential arguements to limit it further.
What are your thoughts?