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Freedom of Speech Is The Essence of America

Freedom of Speech Is The Essence of America | image tagged in politics,freedom of speech,censorship,america,liberals vs conservatives | made w/ Imgflip meme maker
1,238 views 63 upvotes Made by vBackman 3 years ago in politics
26 Comments
[deleted]
5 ups, 3y,
1 reply
5 ups, 3y
Amazing how free speech triggers them. I remember when democrats were the defenders of free speech and championed it as a pillar of democracy. It’s why I went from leaning left to leaning right. This Democratic Party is socialist. Socialist as in baby step to communism.
5 ups, 3y
3 ups, 3y,
2 replies
But is freedom of speech freedom of consequence? Nope. People can say whatever they want, but that doesn't give you a pass on the consequences of your words.
2 ups, 3y
But what are reasonable consequences?
Speech outside of the workplace (obviously you need to shut your mouth while at the workplace) should not be punishable by employers (except for direct threats).
One of the arguments for tenure and the need for teachers unions used to be to prevent employers from punishing teachers political speech. Now demands are regularly made to fire teachers over political speech.
[deleted]
2 ups, 3y
The Supreme Court has declared otherwise. Unless you are directly and specifically inciting targeted violence, we maintain that even the most vile hate speech (like flag burning, for example) is protected speech.

The first Amendment also gives you freedom of association. If you don’t want anything to do with someone, you don’t have to. However, you can’t purport control how others associate and think as well.

My rights end where yours begin.
[deleted]
2 ups, 3y,
1 reply
Hell ya I love your tag and u have a new follower
2 ups, 3y,
1 reply
💖 that and thank you, trump_actually_won! The more the merrier. I can tell by your name that we already have a lot in common. 🙂
[deleted]
2 ups, 3y
Yea any day I follow a lot of conservative and political streams if y want to check them out
[deleted]
1 up, 3y
Only if the Government is the one cracking down. That is all it applies to is the Government. Read it.
1 up, 3y
Who has limited your speech? The advertisers?
2 ups, 3y,
5 replies
Y’all gonna hate me for saying this, but... HATE SPEECH IS NOT FREE SPEECH!
4 ups, 3y,
1 reply
You are wrong, BullMoose. The Supreme Court has said that burning a flag is legally ok so HATE SPEECH IS MOST DEFINITELY FREE SPEECH! I am not saying to be hateful, but I am saying that we can think and say what we want to as Americans as long as we don't yell "fire" in a crowded theater (along w/ the standard exceptions).
3 ups, 3y,
1 reply
Ok, that’s fair, I suppose this is why should’ve stayed out of the politics stream rather make an idiot out of myself like I did just now. I’m just gonna go, ok?
4 ups, 3y,
1 reply
BullMoose, PLEASE STAY! You did not make a statement about yourself at all & have only garnered my respect! We never stop learning and the more we learn, the better people we become. In fact, you motivated me to make my next meme which I am working on right now. 😂 The whole concept of free speech includes listening to differing viewpoints. Thank you for your comment and look for my next meme as I screenshot my thoughts and was directly responding to you... 🙂
4 ups, 3y,
2 replies
Thank you for the kind words ☺️
[deleted]
3 ups, 3y,
1 reply
3 ups, 3y
2 ups, 3y,
1 reply
You are such a good & reasonable person (totally NOT like a BullMoose at all. 😂) I am attaching my meme that I was not planning to make until reading your initial comment. I (and other conservatives) would love to have you spend time with us on the political side of imgflip. You are someone who strikes me as possibly "leaning left" who could be "straightened out" 😃 as you truly do "listen" to the facts (unlike 95% of the liberals we interact with daily). We are bombarded by the false news media so it is easy to understand how someone could be influenced. Please give us time to present you with 'factual news'...
2 ups, 3y
Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt was a Bullmoose, and I accept I will never measure up to one of the greatest presidents we’ve ever had that could call themselves a true progressive and not having it lose meaning. That’s mainly why I named my username BullMooseJr, really.
3 ups, 3y
Hateful speech is a thing, “hate speech” is not a thing.
[deleted]
2 ups, 3y
it is.
2 ups, 3y
That's a little more nuanced. If one were to say "black people are inferior to whites" (obviously they aren't) that is legal to say. It's offensive, but not a threat or call to action. If one were to say "all black people should be hung" that's a direct threat and call to action, and is illegal.
Also, in countries that have anti-hate speech statutes, it can be dangerous to state factual statistics, if those statistics happen to portray minorities poorly, and silence meaningful discussion of what those statistics actually mean and thus how to actually improve them.
[deleted]
2 ups, 3y
The Supreme Court ruled decisively that hate speech is protected speech

Remember, your rights end where those of the next person begin. So long as you aren’t hurting someone, you can do what you want. Freedom of association protects people from speech they dislike (it’s basically the right to ignore someone).

That’s the basis for the SC’s ruling.
1 up, 3y
yawn okay here we go again with the list of well-recognized exceptions:

--Yelling fire in a crowded theater
--Death threats
--Criminal conspiracy
--Hate speech in contexts wherever it is banned (e.g. the workplace, websites that choose to ban it, etc.)
--Child porn
--Regular pornography wherever it is banned

etc. etc.
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