Freedom of Speech in the Twenty-First Century
With regard to freedom of speech, I asked a friend, what do you mean when you say Donald Trump’s recent comment “violates the rights of others”? Do you think current laws need to be expanded to prohibit certain speech that is not currently prohibited? I believe that if anything, we need to allow MORE free speech -- particularly on US university campuses, where many speeches have been censored by the political Left when the Left uses a “heckler’s veto” or when the Left threatens or engages in violence before or during a speech.
Ironically, it is the Left that is leading the speech censorship efforts these days, as it was the Left that led the pro-free speech movement at Berkeley in the 60s.
Here are examples of forms of speech not protected currently by the SCOTUS interpretation of the First Amendment. If anything, I would shorten this list and not, as you seem to be suggesting, add to the list.
· Incitement to violence: Speech that promotes or incites immediate violence or harm, such as a tweet calling for people to destroy police property
· Fighting words: Personal insults that are likely to cause a fight, such as racist, anti-gay, or other personal insults said face-to-face
· True threats: Statements that communicate a serious intent to commit unlawful violence against a specific person or group, even if the speaker doesn't intend to carry it out
· Obscenity: Making or distributing obscene materials
· Defamation: Defamatory speech
· False advertising: The government can impose liability for false advertising or on speakers who knowingly make misrepresentations to obtain money or other benefits
· Perjury: Knowingly giving false testimony under oath
By the way, it has been communist dictatorships that historically and currently and notoriously prohibit a broad range of speech. Much of this prohibited speech is speech that is deemed critical of the Communist Party. The Communist Party is allegedly the mouthpiece of the proletariat, and the Communist Party rationalizes speech prohibition by claiming doing so is necessary to protect the “oppressed” proletariat. Likewise, in the case of the Left today in the US, speech must be censored to protect “oppressed” transgender, gay, black, or female groups.
Despite what the Left says today, so-called “hate” speech is not prohibited by the First Amendment.
As I look over the list of positions supported by the Left today, it strikes me that an essential lynchpin that drives those on today’s Left to support such a shameful list of absurd, cruel ideas is the fact that I now believe the Left suffers from what I would call “Extremist Sympathy” (the political Right often refers to this as “Bleeding Heart Liberalism”). While sympathy is an admirable human trait, I believe that like many other things, it is possible to have TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING. For example, while protecting children from germs is good, an obsessive, over-protective effort to eliminate childhood exposure to germs can weaken the child’s immune system and lead to serious future medical problems.
I once got into an argument with a Boulder Colorado ACLU member on the topic of free speech. I told her that like nearly all of us, when we are children we are properly told that “sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will never hurt us.”
I was horrified and embarrassed for her when she disagreed.
For someone in the ACLU to disagree with that childhood lesson is terrifying.
The following is a sampling of my recent thoughts on the November 2024 Presidential elections.
Silent No More: Leaving the Woke Cult
[Click here for my essay]
Hidden Trump Administration Accomplishments
[Click here for my essay]
Joe Biden is the Worst President in US History
[Click here for my essay]
Why I Am Proudly Voting Trump/Vance in November 2024
[Click here for my essay]
The State of Politics in the US Today
[Click here for my essay]
Why I Left the Democratic Party and the Political Left
[Click here for my essay]
Which Party is the Biggest Threat to Democracy, Freedom, and Rights?
[Click here for my essay]
Puppet Politics
[Click here for my essay]
The Toxic, Mindless Brew
[Click here for my essay]
Bidengate
[Click here for my essay]
The New Pravda is Today’s American Media
[Click here for my essay]
The Shameless Double Standards of the Democratic Party Hypocrites
[Click here for my essay]
The Democratic Party Assault on Democracy, Quality of Life, Civic Rights, and Economic Health
[Click here for my essay]
The Party Line Game of the Democratic Party
[Click here for my essay]
The Insanity and Divisiveness of the Democratic Party
[Click here for my essay]
What Are the Leading Obstacles for Advancement by Black America?
[Click here for my essay]
Republicans Get It Right in Many Ways
[Click here for my essay]
Republicans Better Than Democrats on a Long List of Issues
[Click here for my essay]
Why I Left the Democratic Party
[Click here for my essay]
Evolution of My Political Views
[Click here for my essay]
Walking Away from the Democratic Party
[Click here for my essay]
The Democratic Party Is Far More Divisive Than the Republican Party
[Click here for my essay]
Why I Walked Away From the Democratic Party
[Click here for my essay]
Insane Democrats
[Click here for my essay]
Examples of Democrats Being Anti-Science
[Click here for my essay]
The Inversion of the Democratic Party
[Click here for my essay]