limitations on free speech

[crypto]

in 2005 the austrian police arrested david irving, a nazi-sympathizing british "historian," for setting foot in the country on the grounds that he was a holocaust denier and, had he been allowed to run wild, might have publicly expressed this belief. this was an assault on his freedom of speech but perhaps for justifiable reasons.

should there be limitations on free speech? (i'm not talking about whether or not shouting "fire!" in a crowded theater should be legal.) or should people who urge bigotry, racism, and violence and postulate harmful falsehoods be allowed to take the podium and say whatever they want to say?

[Christovski]

As much as we disagree with their hate-filled speech, we can't in good faith deny them their right to say it while spouting our opinions that for all we know, may be offensive to others in some way.  It sucks but if we want to call it freedom, we have to let the crazies say what they are going to say.

That doesn't mean, however, that they should not be closely watched because while saying something is one thing, inciting a riot is another.

Also, missed you Crypto 

[Inject OH 4]

Tough question. I mean I don't support censorship in pretty much anyway but at the point at where you become part of a hate crime, then I think is when It has gone to far.

For example you can say you hate people blah blah, but when your the West Biro Baptist Church, and you actually rally around peoples funerals, then you deserve to be put in jail.

You can have your opinion you can say it to everyone, but theres a time and a place. At the point of them doing that I see it has an active attack/ hate crime. In which case I believe they should be punished.


EDIT: They can voice their opinion but when they pick out individuals and actively try to force that belief or what not down those peoples throats they are attacking them in a hate crime.

[Coreybush11]

I think we should try to focus more on educating those who believe in what they are saying in these examples, and teach them that insulting others for no logical reason is wrong. A large problem are the parents teaching their children hateful things.

If a parent is teaching their child to spout out racism and hate, take the child away. It is not being raised in a good home. Now this is more extreme, because probably most prejudices come from subtle hints in the raising of the child. Once the parent has crossed the line in the direction of hate groups like the WBC (which is only being used to get people to attack them so they can be sued for money), the child is only being hurt. I don't care if their religion is what they are using as an excuse to put these hateful things in the child's mind, it's still being harmful and will eventually cause the child harm to themselves later in life, either being arrested for physically showing their parents' teachings, or for just making themselves look like fools.

This might not make a lot of sense because I am not very good at putting together my thoughts to make an argument unless I am actually responding to a VERY specific question. Just putting that out there lol

[Jorgen]

It is a very hard question to answear, but I believe you should be able to say anything you wish, however you should not be able to force it down peoples throats.
An example on what I think should not be allowed is westboro baptist minister church (maybe I have typed that wrong or something I dunno) what they do is picketing showing up at locked events and expressing their beliefs in a very intrusive way.

I would type out an essay but I think this should be sufficient.

[Old Crow]

Pretty much agree with what Inject, Jorgen and Corey said but I will take it a step further and say that even morons like that should be allowed. Why? because all of us know how moronic they are, and its up to parents to educate their children that this sort of thing (Westburio, among others) should never be tolerated. Yeah there are going to be people out there that do teach their children and others to hate, but these people should be looked down upon as the scum of the earth, and honesty should be ignored completely. The problem is that the media gives them the power to carry their hate message, and when you confront them about it, its just free publicity for them. Ignore them, forget them, and they will never get their message across. that stupid preacher terry "every Muslim is going to blow up america" jones is comeing back to Dearborn, which is a city in Michigan that has the highest concentration of muslims in the States to spread his hate, and people are planning to counter protest, well I suggest you pick up a news paper, and when he starts talking, start reading it in front of him then walk away, he will have nothing but his idiot hate mongers around him, and that will be the end of that