How Conservatives Weaponized the First Amendment

[Lord of Lies]

So now liberals hate the 1st Amendment too?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/30/us/politics/first-amendment-conservatives-supreme-court.html

 

[bushman505]

 

[all caps]

How about we stop talking about the other side and start talking about what our side is gonna do?

Oh, you mean to tell me neither side has any plan to do anything? Word?

 

[nostradumbass]

Don't worry, they still want the 1st amendment for themselves, they just don't want you to have it.

 

[Teppodama]

Can we hurry up with this ideological civil war already?

 

[bobgeese]

How about we stop talking about the other side and start talking about what our side is gonna do?

We’re making America great again.


You’re getting rid of ICE...

 

[nostradumbass]

How about we stop talking about the other side and start talking about what our side is gonna do?

Oh, you mean to tell me neither side has any plan to do anything? Word?

 

[lifelessheap]

"To the contrary, free speech reinforces and amplifies injustice, Catharine A. MacKinnon, a law professor at the University of Michigan, wrote in “The Free Speech Century,” a collection of essays to be published this year.

“Once a defense of the powerless, the First Amendment over the last hundred years has mainly become a weapon of the powerful,” she wrote. “Legally, what was, toward the beginning of the 20th century, a shield for radicals, artists and activists, socialists and pacifists, the excluded and the dispossessed, has become a sword for authoritarians, racists and misogynists, Nazis and Klansmen, pornographers and corporations buying elections.”"

LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Remember when Leftists argued in favor of pornography? That it was her body and her choice to exploit her sexuality?

 

[cincymma79]

Shitty article is shitty

Saying you don’t have to pay a union you don’t want to belong to is akin to Nazis

 

[Quequeg]

"To the contrary, free speech reinforces and amplifies injustice, Catharine A. MacKinnon, a law professor at the University of Michigan, wrote in “The Free Speech Century,” a collection of essays to be published this year.

“Once a defense of the powerless, the First Amendment over the last hundred years has mainly become a weapon of the powerful,” she wrote. “Legally, what was, toward the beginning of the 20th century, a shield for radicals, artists and activists, socialists and pacifists, the excluded and the dispossessed, has become a sword for authoritarians, racists and misogynists, Nazis and Klansmen, pornographers and corporations buying elections.”"

LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Remember when Leftists argued in favor of pornography? That it was her body and her choice to exploit her sexuality?

They have a point when it comes to corporations, this is why we have Citizens United(legalized bribery). I thought Conservatives wanted money out of politics?

 

[Teppodama]

Seems there's been some fundamental changes in our societies understanding of just what freedom actually is, how its maintained and what sacrifices it requires to ensure that all citizens enjoy it's full measure. It's actually a rather fragile concept requiring tending by both ideological camps in order to maintain an equilibrium that is effective for both sides. When those dynamic societal forces shift too far in either direction it often leads to one side or the other experiencing feelings of oppression to one degree or another.

The amendments as a whole are an interconnected set of guidelines that support each other to provide the fundamental framework of American society. When one is chipped away at, all are weakened in a fashion. When one takes primacy over the others it also throws the system out of balance once again weakening the whole and makes it easier to justify further attacks and erosion on all of them.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Scintillating OP.

 

[Lord of Lies]

Leaked Internal Memo Reveals the ACLU Is Wavering on Free Speech
http://reason.com/blog/2018/06/21/aclu-leaked-memo-free-speech

 

[GetTheseHands]

Progressives only like the 1st amendment when they can protest how awful America is which is why they are only for freedom of speech in times of war or turmoil. Otherwise, they despise freedom of speech.

 

[Ice That Jaw]

It makes perfect sense that the left would err against free speech. They have a much clearer agenda than the right does. I honestly don't even know what the right really wants aside from fattening up the 1% at the expense of everyone else's well being. I don't even think they want to protect our borders.

 

[Judge]

So now liberals hate the 1st Amendment too?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/30/us/politics/first-amendment-conservatives-supreme-court.html

LOL the LEFT only like the rules when they are used to their advantage. They do not believe in free speech,

 

[TheGreatA]

Basically what they are saying is that it was fine to have free speech when it was useful for their cause, but now that their ideas have taken hold in the mainstream, and the tide of "counter-culture" is slowly turning in someone else's favour, it's no longer a good thing to have?

Well, that makes them no different from basically every hypocritical, power-grabbing bastard that has ever existed in history. Freedom and anarchy is great when you're the underdog fighting the "oppressors", not so great when you've seized a position of authority over others.

 

[BKMMAFAN]

It is disturbing that many 'liberals', especially young ones, seek to actively shut down speech with which they disagree.

However, if we're talking liberal/conservative in terms of the SCOTUS, I'd argue that the liberals on the bench have an extremely strong record in protecting broad 1st amendment speech rights. See the following cases, within the past 10 years, which concerned various aspects of freedom of speech:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Alvarez
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snyder_v._Phelps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCullen_v._Coakley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_v._Frederick
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Stevens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heffernan_v._City_of_Paterson

The liberals in all of those decisions were in favor of expansive first amendment free speech rights (save for Breyer in two). Indeed, Alito is probably the most hostile to expansive first amendment views out of all members on the Court currently, followed by Thomas (see the Snyder and Alvarez cases above).

Barring speech intended to bring about imminent violence, I subscribe to the following:

 

[BrotherClaudio]

You'd think the liberal snowflakes would melt in summer

 

[cincymma79]

How far we’ve come

https://www.aclu.org/other/aclu-history-taking-stand-free-speech-skokie