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saffronhareThis was on a friend's FB and I wanted to remember how he phrased it:
"Free speech" does not mean "speech without consequences." It means "speech without getting arrested by the government unless it has a really damn good reason."
It's something that crops up over and over again: the right of somebody to say whatever they want on their own LJ. Sure. I'll give you an "amen, buddy" on that one. But the question of whether one should expect those words not to have any affect on the shape of one's interactions -- regardless of whether there's blame to be shared out -- is much stickier.
"Free speech" does not mean "speech without consequences." It means "speech without getting arrested by the government unless it has a really damn good reason."
It's something that crops up over and over again: the right of somebody to say whatever they want on their own LJ. Sure. I'll give you an "amen, buddy" on that one. But the question of whether one should expect those words not to have any affect on the shape of one's interactions -- regardless of whether there's blame to be shared out -- is much stickier.
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Date: 2011-04-07 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 03:50 am (UTC)Then the hippie movement came, and we were allowed to discuss things that had been 'taboo'.
then came Tom Green, and other abusers of freedom... and I feel like they're more our enemy than half the arabs who just want us out of their neighborhoods.