Is it time to put a muzzle on free speech? page 15

[cori93437]

There is no such thing as absolute freedom of speech and .... it shouldn't be.
I wonder how many of absolutists would continue being so if someone started a campaign:
"Kill him/her, kill him/her, kill him/her."

Yeah.

There are already laws that cover that.
And it wasn't really part of the topic here...

[Nady]

There is a phrase that goes like this:

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

You should repeat this phrase over and over again until you have memorized it and can repeat it back to me.

There is no word, no word at all, which I can shout out into the air and have it heard by a little girl who dies because of it.

But you wouldn't shout it in the air, would you. You'd post it on facebook, or maybe a (as you seem to prefer) youtube video for everyone to see. You'd make sure that your words were heard by as many people as possible and make that little girl's life a living hell. And how do you know it wouldn't kill her (or at least her spirit) in the end?

[Grok]

I wonder how many of absolutists would continue being so if someone started a campaign:
"Kill him/her, kill him/her, kill him/her."

Oh, you mean like the Obama/Romney campaign?
Kill these Muslims/Kill those Muslims, Kill these brown people/Kill those brown people.

[kenn]

I'm sure this worked wonderfully 250 years ago, when everyone's opinions stopped at our shores. My thoughts however, were along the lines of careless speech that results in the death of innocent people half a world away. It's all well and good to point the finger at the murderers as responsible, but if you knew your words could result in the death of others, would you still say them? Or would you consider that not every culture thinks/reacts the same as Americans and temper your speech?

I'm all in favor of free speech, but I think I would choose my words more carefully, considering the current climate of the modern world.

Are you saying people should self regulate their freedom of speech or that the government should regulate it?

[kenn]

I don't get how Shannon's law is applicable or relevant tbh

[cori93437]

I don't get how Shannon's law is applicable or relevant tbh

Yeah...
It's not.

[Grok]

But you wouldn't shout it in the air, would you. You'd post it on facebook, or maybe a (as you seem to prefer) youtube video for everyone to see. You'd make sure that your words were heard by as many people as possible and make that little girl's life a living hell. And how do you know it wouldn't kill her (or at least her spirit) in the end?

Yeah, I wouldn't get any backlash at all for being a jerk to a little girl, no, none at all...

If I were a jerk and say something nasty about a little girl, then everyone else on the planet would give me a taste of my own medicine.

Whose spirit would be killed, and whose would be lifted after that?

Nady, the discussion we should be having is Obama's foreign policy, not censoring YouTube.

With Obama, the buck doesn't stop with him, the buck stops with some YouTube video which nobody has watched before.

US ambassadors are being killed because we bomb a bunch of innocent people and occupy the Middle East, not because we have free speech and we have YouTube.

[BONZ]

Are you saying people should self regulate their freedom of speech or that the government should regulate it?

Dude, this thread is SO FAR BEYOND that very reasoned, apropos question that it doesn't even matter anymore.

[Nady]

Are you saying people should self regulate their freedom of speech or that the government should regulate it?

I'm saying that people should stop and think why they're using this freedom. Yes, self regulate. I don't want government to step in. I don't want to lose any of our freedoms. But I'm afraid if people keep flapping their gums without engaging their brains, it could happen. Not every country sees our freedom of speech as a positive thing. And words have started wars before.

[Nady]

I don't get how Shannon's law is applicable or relevant tbh

Because people do things all the time without thinking about the possible consequences. Do you ever consider, when you see a bunch of people shooting guns in the air in celebration, that what goes up must come down, and at the same speed?