Political Crossfire Forums

[Robin Hood]

What are your reasons for supporting free speech? I'd put all but which one is most important to you?

http://www.reason.com/links/links012006.shtml

[thefranzkafkafront]

I like that thing... with the thinking.... and the logic.

Philosophy, thats it!

[Korimyr the Rat]

Free, open discourse (among a handful of other freedoms) is necessary to keep government honest.

[halcyon~sky]

I had to google Millian because I didn't know what it meant =). Is it referring to the Athenian siege of Milos (And then the Milians eloquently portrayed their innate right to freedom)?

[Hyrum]

Korimyr the Rat wrote: Free, open discourse (among a handful of other freedoms) is necessary to keep government honest.

And we are doing a fantastic job of that. There is nothing shady going on in the government at all

[Korimyr the Rat]

Korimyr the Rat wrote: Free, open discourse (among a handful of other freedoms) is necessary to keep government honest.
Hyrum wrote: And we are doing a fantastic job of that. There is nothing shady going on in the government at all

Whoever said that our government has anything resembling "free, open discourse"?

We're coming up on the 100th anniversary of the Alien and Sedition Act, and there are posters on this board who were alive for McCarthy's witch-hunts. College newspaper offices are swamped in protestors and hit with lawsuits for printing conservative columns, and our President is openly and actively intolerant of critical media.

Now, it's gotten to the point where even mild dissent is met with accusations of treason. Thankfully, our criminal justice system is not yet nearly as intemperate as our political columnists.

Frankly, I think that our government is broken, and that it will get far worse before it can even begin to get better. I just hope that the process remains relatively peaceful; I have already lost all hope of civility.

[Robin Hood]

Quote: I had to google Millian because I didn't know what it meant =). Is it referring to the Athenian siege of Milos (And then the Milians eloquently portrayed their innate right to freedom)?

Just take it as meaning 'very strong'....a very strong, yet undersiege belief in freedom (of speech).

[greeneye]

Does supporting free speech mean one supports the many child porn sites on the Internet?

[THEXRATED]

greeneye wrote: Does supporting free speech mean one supports the many child porn sites on the Internet?

Depending on the umbrella we use to describe the things that fall under "free speech" hence I could not vote on this given the lack of meaningful options.

[Korimyr the Rat]

greeneye wrote: Does supporting free speech mean one supports the many child porn sites on the Internet?

Nope. See, if someone is telling stories about having sex with children, it's disgusting but defensible. (Though I certainly wouldn't object if it led to an investigation to see if the stories were true-- after all, if I stood on a stage and told stories about committing other crimes...) If they've taken pictures of having sex with children, that's not "free speech", it's photographic evidence that they have committed a crime.

Of course, the people distributing such things are acting as accomplices after-the-fact and should be prosecuted as such.

[cap'n queasy]

I voted for the first option. I never really thought about why I feel that free speech is needed, but that is exactly why I value free speech.

[Robin Hood]

Quote: that's not "free speech", it's photographic evidence that they have committed a crime.

:lol:

[eynon]

Reason wrote: Quote: I had to google Millian because I didn't know what it meant =). Is it referring to the Athenian siege of Milos (And then the Milians eloquently portrayed their innate right to freedom)?

Just take it as meaning 'very strong'....a very strong, yet undersiege belief in freedom (of speech).

Yeah, "Thunder-dome of Ideas" baby :-D bring it on!!!!!


btw....snuff-films aren't free-speech either :wink:

[Gus]

It has something to do with that very unpopular self-ownership thing.

[tk750]

The real question is

What's your reason for not supporting free speech.

[FinnMacCool]

I support freedom of speech because I believe I should have the right to say what I think.

[Vicini]

As Thomas Jefferson said: "The Freedom of this country depends on a freedom of the press (and therefore, of the speech of its readers and writers) that cannot be limited without being lost."

The porn site, yeah, is photographic evidence of the crime. The freedom of speech thing ends when then illegal part begins. Like if i send an email to a friend about assassination of a person. The murder part makes it illegal, so i can be reprimanded for my statements.

I dont think anyone doesnt support free speech (for themselves, at least. there are plenty of people who'd limit other peoples right to say stuff) But if u are out there let us hear your reasons for censoring everyday life.

[The Good Doctor]

We've only gotten this close to anarchism -- sorry, freedom -- through free and open discourse.

[nonrev]

Somebody on this forum has said our government is just doing a great job, boy it that a crazy idea. Example::: watched CSPAN coverage of recent Congressional topics, and could not help noticing the everyday habits of BOTH polictical parties voting along party lines. This is the worse possilble thing to happen to a democracy, as this indicates none of our representiives have an opinion different from one another. This is what the word debate means, expressions between persons with individual thoughts and opinions, when this means of expression is lost we are in deep trouble. CSPAN also show the Briitish parlament insession, watch how thier resprsentitives ask members of thier own parties to explain thier view and to justiify them,, this is what our forefathers had in mind when they establiish our form of government. I do not mean to inferr that we should have a parlamentyary govenment, but debate and pressing home a good argument is GOOD govenment in action, not the straight line party voting we see today. Go back into our governments history 30 or 40 years ago, and you wont see any of this vote the party line business, they voted to promote the individual citizens interests and not BIG business all the time. :!:

[Hot Soup]

So i can spead my words of freedom and peace thougout the nation. and tell people what we are doing wrong and what we should be doing