We'll be talking a lot about Liberty and 1st Amendment protections this week but right now a very well informed Kansas City blogger reminds us that there is no Freedom without responsibility.
Check it:
Uncommon Courage: Does the First Amendment Protect Harassing Speech?
Important starting point . . .
"We all have heard a lot about first amendment speech and religious protections. If speech is protected, should someone who verbally harasses others, either sexually, racially or because of LGBT issues be protected? I think not. Even though most speech is protected under the first amendment, the Supreme Court has always held there are exceptions . . ."
People can sue and counter-sue for a lot of things and the U.S. protects speech and Freedom of expression more than any other place in the world . . . Still, it's always important to realize the axiom that one person's rights end where another begins . . . Unless, you like reading Kansas City's chapter of 'The Dirty' which is hilarious and evil and still somehow escapes much public criticism because politically correct d-bags focus on more relevant TKC rantings.
So if someone calls me a gun loving red neck who clings to religion is that harassment? Or is speech only harassment when its directed at someone who liberals feel deserves protecting?
ReplyDeleteWow, that was a real fine mess. The uncommonly courageous first states that harmful words can be a battery, which is news to me. I thought they could be assault if threatening battery (but I'm no lawyer, please correct me if I am wrong). Then she parses out that simply saying mean things are not illegal so long as they are not done in the workplace. This seemed to contradict the headline/thesis of her blog entry. I was left more confused after reading her work than I would have been had I just read the TKC write up, which basically says, it's not illegal if your speech offends someone unless it's about a specific person, like The Dirty KC, which could be libel. In closing, what was the point of this exercise? The answer at the heart of this is: yes, N word guy gets a pass, although his betters would prefer he didn't.
ReplyDeleteYes, harassing speech is protected. People have the right to state their opinions, and there is no constitutional right that guarantees that we will never be offended.
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Liberals are constantly addressing the issue of Free Speech as they probe again and again the psyche of the American zeitgeist in an effort to see if there is, as there is now, with Gay Marriage, enough of a consensus to redefine what Free Speech is and, of course, control the political conversation by denying the right it's voice.
Again and again, trial balloon scenarios are presented to the public in the Main Stream Media to test the waters for a future Government Agency, anointed by that same Main Stream Media and the Federal Government, populated with Progressives and Democratic Apparatchiks, that will, for the public good, screen out "Offensive" nomenclature and ideas. This will lead, as it already has in England, to prosecution and incarceration for speech that the New Amerika, populated by the New Demographik deems criminal.
Here on TKC, I can only imagine the pressure Tony is under trying to maintain a comment section, that is totally free of supervision by Local and National "Thought Leaders" who despise the truth.
Free Speech is under attack and the pretense of an open and unfettered comment section with relation to local events here in KC, MUST include the most heinous and despicable opinions.
Because opinions, are subjective.
Tony if you define harassing like you do racism then harassing speech is protected. If you define harassing speech the way the supreme court has defined it, then it is not. Telling the world you dislike queers is not illegal. Telling the world you think all blacks should be removed from the planet is not harassing speech. I doubt berating an anonymous person in a blog is harassing speech. Most of what the nutty Phelps bunch does is protected. Just because I don't like what someone says doesn't mean the speech is not protected. Now say things or exercise in a way that threatens my well being or do harm and the speech might not be protected
ReplyDeleteSounds like that dreaded, magic word NIGGER, will soon be forever banned and speech itself will soon be so totally regulated, that "1984" will seem like a pretty tame, old novel. We've been ordered to dispense with the Confederate Battle Flag and you must wonder what will be "banned" next. We sure wouldn't want to offend anyone that is protected by the threat of lawsuits or public shaming.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, mustn't forget about how that rainbow flag has been run up our collective noses and even the venerable White House, lighted up like a side show, just to make queers more comfortable. It's mostly out of control now and whatever happens next, well, it'll just be welcome. Bring it on!
ReplyDeleteThe only cogent part of her post is where she says "I think not."
ReplyDeleteBTW, what is uncommonly courageous about blogging the same beliefs and opinion as everybody else on the leftist bandwagon?
Expressing anger without invoking injury can be perfectly fine protected expression.
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Ban the "N" word? Whuzzat U sez? Naw, cain't do dat!
ReplyDeleteAll the rap crap lyrics gonna be *BLEEP* *BLEEEEEEEEEEP* *BLEEP*ing so damn much the shit songs all gonna be Morse Code!!!!!!!
Oh no, it's fine if real NIGGERS use the "n-word", they can do anything they please....
ReplyDeleteI think Lynne for being an attorney is very thinned skinned. I say if you can't take the heat stop playing in the kitchen. Who or what protects me from nosy busy bodies like her?
ReplyDeleteMy late grandmother explained to me that, “a nigger was a lowdown, dirty, dishonest person you could not trust” and skin color had nothing to do with it. With that thought in mind I cannot point to two more “lowdown, dirty, dishonest persons” than the Obamas. Using the Ku Klux Klan as the standard for racism, the KKK are comparable to a Wal-Mart trunk sale compared to the Obamas.
ReplyDeleteBack in the 1970's Blacks tried to come up with their pejorative for White people so they would have their equivalent insult like nigger but applied to White people. That word was honkey. Why didn’t it succeed as an insult? It never made it because every time you called a White person a honkey they laughed at you and made of joke of it and said things, like yeah, that me, I'm a honkey pass the white bread and Velveeta cheese. Watch an episode of The Jefferson’s’ on ME TV or Antenna TV and you will see it was one of George Jefferson’s favorite word.
ReplyDeleteComedian Lenny Bruce said over fifty years ago in his act that our first reaction to the word “Nigger” ought to be laughter so some Black kid doesn’t run home crying because someone called him a “Nigger”. Times have changed and that kid would not cry but was the kid who called him a Nigger. Hey, that’s a joke. Isn’t it time we detoxify the word Nigger? Here is another thing: if you don’t want to be called a Nigger, don’t act like one. I think Chris Rock pointed that out once and got a lot of abuse for telling the truth. Maybe if we could laugh together and get our sense of humor back things between the races might start to improve rather than this current heighten sensitivity where everyone is pissed off anything said.
For those of you educated in the KCPS and KCKPS systems, pejorative is a word that means insult or slur.
I am just glad Norman Mailer didn’t live to see how bad censorship has fugged up our culture.
By the way, when Lenny Bruce was being arrested for obscenity, you could go into the same city and hear Buddy Hackett telling jokes that would embarrass a longshoreman. Buddy didn’t get busted because he was not making fun of the wrong people.
When the late comedian Freddie Prinze (Freddie Prinze Jr.’s father) was playing the Playboy Club in Chicago, the manager told him he couldn’t use the word “fuck” in his routine. Freddie grabbed the nearest telephone and called Hugh Hefner and asked him: “Did Lenny Bruce die for nothing?” I would add did George Carlin and Richard Pryor die for nothing for some politically correct fucks to dictate what we can and cannot say?
This N-word guy may be trying to make a point......
ReplyDeletedid George Carlin and Richard Pryor die for nothing for some politically correct fucks to dictate what we can and cannot say?
ReplyDeleteApparently so