Quote:
Originally posted by bonbonbox
What do ya'll think about free speech and censorship?
Free speech, yes. Censorship, no.
I have no problem speech wise with the guy yelling fire in a theater. The same as I have no problem with a guy burning a flag speech wise. If the guy in the theater causes a herd of people to trample other people then he gets his hand slapped for that, not for speaking. The guy with the flag gets his hand slapped for starting fires not for the speech. I use as many words as possible and I see no reason to say that some are bad and should not be spoken/written. Say or write what you want, but just as president Bush told the Dixie chicks, don't be surprised when you get a reaction. I never want to hear the, "What about the children?" crap. We as a society have decided what is and isn't acceptable around who. It's not written but everybody knows. Those that have respect for others refrain from speaking words and topics that would offend. The jerk that is out of line around the kids is a fine example for parents to teach thier offspring about jerks, what they do, and why you shouldn't be one. You don't shield the child from jerks, they don't learn that way. Freedom is always best and censorship is bad.
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what? you're not making sense. how i read what you wrote is: people should be able to say whatever they want, like yelling fire in a movie theater, and if a stampede happens, get in trouble for the stampede, not for yelling fire.
yelling "fire" is what caused the stampede. he either gets prosecuted for causing one by yelling "fire", ie. causing a public disturbance, or whatever it woudl be called, (and this applies for what might be said to incite a riot) or he doesn't get prosecuted at all. his only action woudl be speech, so if anything said is protected, then icould incite a riot whenever i wanted, or yell fire or bomb in a movie theather or on an airplane, and there would be no recourse. you don't get punished for the effect, you get punished for the cause, at least in this case.