Today's question, which I've narrowed a bit, comes from Maui Mike. Since I haven't much time today and since the question was good. The question has its foundation in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (which some people, NOT POLITICIANS, still abide by, and believe in). The relevant part reads "The amendment prohibits the making of any law ...infringing on the freedom of speech..." So, if you can predict that the consequences of your "free speech" will lead to violence and the death of innocents, should you be held responsible? [examples: Burning a Koran, murdering cartoonists that portray Muhammad in a perceived negative light, writing literature or speaking on a television program with the intent of incitement]
Go nuts!
I don't believe the person practicing free speach should be held responsible. The people who act out in violence against it should be held responsible. We all have a choice in how we react to things. Just because you don't like something that someone says or does, it doesn't give you the right to harm them or anyone else. Don't let your emotions rule you. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. -Ghandi
ReplyDeleteWe are not living in a closed system. We value free speech in this country and we should. But we are living in a global community, dealing with countries that are not as evolved as we are socially, who do not understand using words rather than violence. A history has now been established, and it known around the world how some of these countries and people will react when you criticize their god, religion or way of life. Certainly we are not responsible for their actions, at least not legally. But anyone American who burns a Quran, or desecrates the image of someone else's god, has some moral and ethical responsibility for the resultant violence and death. Trying to cleanse yourself of that responsibility is just as ignorant as those acts of violence.
ReplyDeleteAh Pepe, it remains the question of the football team v Yearbook, doesn't it? Freedom of speech is essential to any type of freedom and (one more time) words have never harmed or killed anyone. Only people's actions/reactions to words have. The answer, then, must be to educate people to make their argument in words not in actions. Which is not to say that I wouldn't like to see the Koran-burning nutcase from Florida charged with something - perhaps raging illiteracy.
ReplyDeleteFreedom of speech is a right given to us by our fore fathers who were obviously more educated than many of the politicians we employ today. However there are times when freedom of speech is taken so out of context, think about the nut cases from the baptist church who protest at the funerals of fallen soldiers. That in my opinion only adds weight to the second amendment, right to bare arms, they should be shot!
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