Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech

[BikerDude]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLj-GX59OEM

[DigitalBuddha]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLj-GX59OEM

Righteous stuff, dude.

[Boston Rockbury]

I didn't watch the whole thing but how do we reconcile freedom of speech with say people making violently anti-semitic public statements?

[BikerDude]

I didn't watch the whole thing but how do we reconcile freedom of speech with say people making violently anti-semitic public statements?

It's protected speech. Well not the violent part. You can't threaten violence.
But there is a Nazi party in the US and in the vid they show the famous march where they were met with Jewish protesters. The protesters likewise are exercising their freedoms.
I hate that Larry Flynt ends up being the spokes person for freedom of speech but by virtue of his battles as the owner of Hustler Magazine he has a lot of direct experience. As he says "there is a price you pay for freedom. That is tolerance." You have the right to criticize but you don't have the right to stifle someone else's views just because you find them offensive. Mormon's have the right to worship their God on Kolob and I have the right to call them delusional. The KKK has the right to spout their racist swill and the Jews and other sane people have the right to call then ignorant crackers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IhWSSvt7JM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArllWGlAOa8

No one has the inherent right to NOT be offended.
In a way that is the essence of free speech. If the only thing that people ever said was non threatening and uncontroversial then there would be no utility to speech. No way to challenge the status-quo. Unfortunately allowing that also opens the door to nut cases like the KKK etc. That's a fact of life. But that is the same sort of a trade off that we make with most freedoms. A person can own a gun for good reasons. But they can also own a gun because they think that Jesus is talking to them from their corn flakes and telling them that the government is coming to get them.
Unfortunately some things hinge on higher principles and freedom never equals convenience. It is inconvenient and difficult. But that is the Gig.

[Hominid]

No one has the inherent right to NOT be offended.

That's the essence of it right there. Yet, Muslims feel they have the right to slay anyone slagging their god. Not to hijack the thread with my own point here, but I have a big "fuck you" middle finger to anyone with that attitude.