Originally Posted by roachboy

for whatever it's worth, i was just asking for clarification. i dont think people are free to be as bigoted and stupid as they want. freedom of speech is not about freedom from being criticized or freedom from being stopped---freedom of speech is about limits on the kind of legal actions the federal government can undertake to stop speech acts. but that doesn't mean that pressure can't be brought to bear to stop an action. this pressure can be direct, blunt violent if need be. and folk like dk couldn't object to it because the state hadn't done it, even if they supported the type of speech/action that was being halted.

but even legally back in the Halcyon Days When the Mighty Founders Strode the earth there were attempts to circumscribe speech (alien & sedition act anyone?).

but here, you've got good old fashioned fascist america speech. as ignorant and vile as it gets. like i said, i don't see this as a speech issue primarily--i see it as incitement to violence. and i am glad that it was called off. had jones gone ahead with it, i would have supported its total suppression. and i would have care little about how it happened. i think the political and ethical damage entailed by creating an image of the united states in the context of which this sort of vile action is ok outweighs problems of free speech.

but i also recognize that the situation is complicated and alot of my position comes more from finding these racist fuckwits to be viscerally offensive. so i would like personally to be part of forcing them to stop. but legally, it's sticky. i'm glad that things happened as they happened.