So, is there any freedoms of speech that should be squashed?
I find that there should be two specific ones that have to be, despite my
being libertarian (though I do admit, I have some totalitarian ideas). So
let's discuss.
Child pornography: You are probably screaming that
child porn is not speech? Well, unfortunately, the Supreme Court
disagrees. It is in fact a form of expression that uses and illegal
activity. Thankfully the Supreme Court sides with the kids and declared
this form of speech to be not protected at all. So this speech can
thankfully be killed by law without any disagreement save those who partake in
this obscene and disgusting activity.
Death threats: Now this is a tricky one. Yes
death threats and the violence that goes along with them are at all times to be
taken seriously. Yet, intent in this case must be proven to actually act
on such a threat to stop the perpetrator before the violence starts. As
such, this speech is harder to squash as it must be taken on a case by case
basis to see if action must be taken or not. Let us face it, some of us
say really dumb things that can be construed as a death threat. So
sorting those out is important. So in this case, you turn the evidence
over to the police, and they look into past writings of the individual along
with activities to see if action is to be taken. And that is it.
Otherwise you as say an internet moderator can take the threat down and
ignore it.
Conclusion: It is hard to say that any other speech
should be squashed as that becomes problematic. You cannot stop people
from cursing, or making obscene gestures as that invites people banning kissing
in public (it has been done before in America, so don't think it cannot happen
again) amongst other activities and expressions. As such, the only two
forms of speech that do not invite a slippery slope of denying all speech and
expression are in my opinion these two. Aside from that, say and express
yourself however you like.
No comments:
Post a Comment