Yes, Larry Flynt was right when he said that Freedom of Speech is not for the kind of speech you like, its for the kind of speech you hate. And Oliver Wendall Holmes was ignorant and wrong when offering his example of Fire in a Crowded Movie House. That being said, yes there are limits to Free Speech!
Death Threats are a good example of limits of Free Speech and common sense grounds for a restraining order. Treason and Sedition are another example of limited Free Speech. Openly advocating the violent overthrow of the US Government, even with the leadership as ignorant and embarrassing as the current administration, is a good reason for someone to go to jail for what they advocate. Inciting a Riot is not only a good example of limited Free Speech but also why it is important that the same rules apply to the Right and the Left.
And please, kind reader, if you could have the decency not to bring up the odious and false example of shouting Fire in a crowded theatre ever again, that would be most wise and benevolent of you. That example was from a famous Supreme Court Case and is attributed to Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes. But the thing is, the defendant in that case was not being charged with shouting Fire in a crowded theatre. He was being charged with writing an anti-war pamphlet in Yiddish at the outset of World War 1 in which he correctly compared the 13th Amendments ban on involuntary servitude to the Draft.
So the question of just when, in the modern discourse, the line has been crossed regarding the other side, Right or Left, going too far has come up recently.
Portions of the Left (specifically the Academic Left) do have censorious elements present.
Often dubbed Social Justice Warriors they are often portrayed in a contradictory manner. One one hand, they are a menace that is out of control and a direct threat to Freedom of Speech as they assert a non existent right not to be offended. And the same people decrying this out of control menace will often deride them as Special Snowflakes who have been triggered and need to go back to a safe space.
Yknow, just like Special Snowflake Jeff Sessions when he is laughed at by an activist or Special Snowflake Tim Price after being asked questions by arrested reporter Daniel Heyman who was just doing his job.
We are hearing insincere snide bleatings referencing Freedom of Speech aimed at the SJW left from people who throw conniption fits when Happy Holidays is said instead of Merry Christmas and by those who are more outraged at Colin Kaepernicks silent but visible protest than at the murders of unarmed black people by law enforcement with little or no accountability.
Its important to note that when criticizing SJWs, that they be both horrible threats AND pathetic scapegoats. Think of the role Emmanuel Goldstien played in Orwells 1984! Thats what the groundwork is being laid for. Its the groundwork for a political narrative akin to where Goldstien is the enemy, not Big Brother! In a similar vein, SJWs are your enemy, you can trust the Authoritarian State!
And this is coming from someone who is actively repulsed by unneeded academic censorship. I believe that there are two views you can have on Freedom of Speech. You are either for it or you are against it. And Freedom of of Speech is for the kind of Speech you hate.
And I do hate pretty much everything which comes out of the mouths of sad demented racist transphobic thugs. So, do those same sad demented racist transphobic thugs have Freedom of Speech?
Of course they do. But heres some more questions-
Do sad demented racist transphobic thugs in Berkley have the right to incite a riot and not be charged ?
Or how about- Do sad demented racist transphobic thugs have the right to threaten the lives of people they consider less than human? The words I intend to kill you (taken in a real life threatening context) are enough to get you a visit from the police and a restraining order.
So what about when that sentiment is made en masse?
Of course they dont have that right! Threatening others is not protected Free Speech nor is inciting a gathering of like minded people to do violence.
As a matter of fact, it meets the US Armys definition of Terrorism.
The U.S. Armys Field Manuel defines Terrorism as calculated use of unlawful violence
or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear. It is intended to coerce or intimidate governments or societies [to attain] political, religious, or ideological goals. U.S. Army Field Manual No. FM 3-0, Chapter 9, 37 (14 June 2001).
These dim witted hate filled buffoons are emboldened by what they perceive as a sympathetic administration where their use of violence of threat of violence wont be a priority.
Arresting a reporter for doing his job or an activist for laughing at a pompous well entrenched moron are clearly priorities to this administration over the presence of domestic terrorists. And I do not think that the same objective standard that gives leniency to pro-fascists would be applied if the same behavior was engaged in by those on the Left!
This bunch of dolts is truly proof of the unthinking hypocritical jackbooted thuggery of the Executive Branch of the US government. Look no further, there it sits!
But I do hope for a liberal prosecutor who, in the oncoming backlash against this Administration and Agenda, can find time in his schedule to apply statutes already on the books to those inciting violence for political gain! I would advise said brave prosecutors and legal SJWs that you take a two pronged attack to pro-fascists. They should after these domestic fascist terrorist in criminal court with the book thrown at them as well as civil court to go after their assets will make the ink jump off of those 1488 tattoos higher than Pepe the Frog!
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