Free Speech

[Winner]

Freedom of Speech: to express one's opinions without fear of punishment.
It defines Western democracy as a staple right to its citizens, but has a nasty habit of being abused quite often. Danish newspapers, Canada Post postal workers (or the church), and liberal media have all used 'Free Speech' as justifications for their actions (or lack thereof).

Obviously, a line must be drawn. The question is, where?

Only if you incite hatred by promoting violence or you slander against somebody.

Danish newspapers had every right to print that cartoons, even the courts approved that.

 

[ComradeDavo]

Free Speach. Always.

Except - when telling lies.

So...freedom to speak the truth should always be the case. But not to tell lies designed to alter and manipulate peoples perceptions. Such as holocaust denial - that should be illegal because it's a falsehood.

Also it's a tough one when it comes to incitement to murder.

 

[Ayatollah So]

Well, upon further research, it appears that that is no longer the standard anyway; the current limit of free speech as defined by the Supreme Court is that speech is not protected if it creates imminent lawless action: the speaker has the intent to incite "lawless action," for example a riot, and the action is both imminent and likely.

Which is fair enough, as long as the laws of a nation are fair and the legislature is democratic.

Woohoo! The Supremes got something exactly right for once!

 

[Masquerouge]

Freedom of speech doesn't exist. You can't stand in front of me and scream obscenities in my face for half an hour. You can't tell everyone around you that you intend to kill them. We only have partial freedom of speech.

I didn't vote in the poll because I don't like the options.

hey I agree! Everywhere you will find limits to freedom of speech. You can pretend all you want, but nobody can say anything, anytime, anywhere.

 

[IglooDame]

Free Speach. Always.

Except - when telling lies.

So...freedom to speak the truth should always be the case. But not to tell lies designed to alter and manipulate peoples perceptions. Such as holocaust denial - that should be illegal because it's a falsehood.

Man, you just put Madison Avenue out of business.

 

[spankey]

People confuse Freedom of Speech to the Right to be Listened to and Heard.

A group has a right to put out whatever they want, as long as it is not libelous or creates an immediate danger.

Anyone has a right to not listen to the speech. That would include organizing boycotts or self-censorship.

As long as the government is not laying a heavy hand upon the land, most speech could be considered free and can be found in some venue

 

[Evie]

You are free to say whatever you will about me, as long as it's not incitation to illegal actions.

But you are not free to keep saying it to me without good reason (you're a policeman or principal trying to get me to respect the rules, for example - that's good reason) if I don't want to hear it. That falls into harassment, which should most certainly be illegal.

 

[mdwh]

I voted "When it insults or harms others or their rights", but that's a bit misleading really - I certainly don't think it should be illegal to *insult* someone. Just a limit at actual harm or restriction of rights. But you don't have a poll option for that.

 

[mdwh]

Except - when telling lies.

So...freedom to speak the truth should always be the case. But not to tell lies designed to alter and manipulate peoples perceptions. Such as holocaust denial - that should be illegal because it's a falsehood.

But how do you decide what is true or not?

I don't think it would be good if researchers such as scientists and historians were subject to courts of law and a jury populated by laymen. It could easily discourage new and controversial research if they feared punishment.

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

I voted "When it insults or harms others or their rights", but that's a bit misleading really - I certainly don't think it should be illegal to *insult* someone. Just a limit at actual harm or restriction of rights. But you don't have a poll option for that.

Just to clarify: this is not a poll on the legality of Freedom of Speech, but to determine when a person can no longer use it as an excuse for their actions.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Just to clarify: this is not a poll on the legality of Freedom of Speech, but to determine when a person can no longer use it as an excuse for their actions.

Well, in that case, a person can never use "freedom of speech" as an "excuse" for their actions.