Free Speech, is it a good thing?

[elmo_1968]

Exactly. These morons seem to think that the bill of rights would somehow magically morph into a machine gun and protect their asses in that type of situation. It wouldn't, they'd get beaten down and probably killed. But hey they are 'protected' under free speech.

That could happen, but OTOH look at Fred Phelps, he and his family made a hobby out of publicly insulting war casualties. No public beatdowns.

I'm very much in favor of free speech(not saying you aren't), and Phelps is one of my key exhibits. He was a nobody who wanted to be noticed, and if the govt. had banned his speech he'd have gotten a celebrity status. Instead he faded into the background and probably did more to advance gay rights than anyone since Harvey Milk.

Sometimes the severest punishment of a fool is to let him have the microphone.

 

[Possum Jenkins]

That could happen, but OTOH look at Fred Phelps, he and his family made a hobby out of publicly insulting war casualties. No public beatdowns.

I'm very much in favor of free speech(not saying you aren't), and Phelps is one of my key exhibits. He was a nobody who wanted to be noticed, and if the govt. had banned his speech he'd have gotten a celebrity status. Instead he faded into the background and probably did more to advance gay rights than anyone since Harvey Milk.

Sometimes the severest punishment of a fool is to let him have the microphone.

This is a good point.

Let idiots talk and beat them with logic and facts, not through coercion. This is something anti-racist activists in Europe and Latin America are failing in. The state is punishing people for making idiot racist arguments.

Let them be idiots. People are rational and they'll make their own choices about who to take seriously.