Quote:
Originally posted by Lebell
The confusion here is thinking that "Free Speech" means you can go anywhere at anytime and say anything.
You cannot.
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I can't put it more succintly than Lebell did.
So I won't.
If someone is invited to give a commencement speech, they are expected to do just that. "Commencement" means "a beginning" and to launch into political rhetoric, be it anti-war or pro-war or pro-life or anti-gay, is hardly that. So, in response, the crowd booed him off the stage -- how is that less a show of freedom of speech than him criticizing national policy at a
graduation?
If a fundamentalist Christian had gotten up on stage and was telling the crowd that their sins were going to cause them to burn in hell for eternity along with the Arabs and Asians, he/she would also most likely be booed off and have their mic cut. But, because they're Christian and not a New York Times reporter, there would be no one here to defend them.
"Freedom of Speech" has been reduced to a card in the deck of those who have no other way to defend their beliefs, just as race has. If someone doesn't want to hear your speil for any reason, they are attacking your Freedom of Speech (or, if you're not white or gay, they're racists/homophobes/bigots too!). Freedom of Speech goes two ways -- you can say what you want, and I can close my door in your face, boo, or otherwise show my lack of support. You would think that after Michael Moore got the response that he did at the Academy Awards (I was surprised that he wasn't held up on high), people would learn that they need to think before they speak.