Name Ways the Government Violates Your Freedom of Thought.

'Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or controul the Right of another: And this is the only Check it ought to suffer, and the only Bounds it ought to know.'
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-90)

The right to Freedom of Thought is not mentioned anywhere in the US Constitution. But even most conservatives will assure you it is implied.

According to some judges (again, conservatives included), the state violates your Freedom of Thought when they tell you what books you may read or what movies you may watch in the privacy of your own home.

That is one way the state can violate your Freedom of Thought. Can you name anymore?

 

I don't know but the idea of "political correctness" has gone too far. Everyone has a different definition of it, such that it has gotten to point you can't say anything anymore without offending someone..

 

I actually used this very idea as an example of this, in a Facebook post.

 

Moderators: I did NOT hit the reply button four times. I don't know why this happened.

 

I'm already getting death threats in emails from evangelicals regarding my last chapter of Adholes and I I know for a fact most of them never even watched it! Makes me respect comedians like Colbert all the more for having the guts to say the truth without hiding behind a mask. As for me, I live in Texasss Trump country and would no doubt get my house shot up if the neighbor's knew what I was up to.

 

Jimbee

Which books which films?

 

Willie

What do you mean by "political correctness" can you please give us some examples?

 

The present SCOTUS standard is anything involving consenting adults, as I understand it.

Also I've heard of people getting in trouble for illegally possessing downloaded music (no one I know). Why isn't that protected?

 

Jimbee

I’m still not sure what you mean, what political freedom of thought do you think is been curtailed – what books or films are you talking about?

And are you saying you don’t want any copy rights system?

 

I'm sorry. I think I misunderstood your question. Actually few books or films are ever censored in the United States. That's what I love about this country. But the same isn't true in other countries.

In Germany, for example, Mein Kampf was illegal to possess until recently. Now it was a stupid and evil book. And I'm certainly not defending it. But what if someone just wants to do a report on it for school?

Yes, copyright laws are important. But as I said, in the United States you can legally possess just about any media form. That's why I am perplexed mere possession of illegally downloaded data is illegal. Maybe I am missing the point here too. I don't know.

 

The right to freedom of thought is protected implicitly (and generally effectively), by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the due process clauses of the Fifth and fourteenth Amendments. The state can indeed regulate "obscenity" which isn't considered protected speech--even in the privacy of your own home, if it involves , say, underage kids. Should it be otherwise? And are there no victims? It's worth noting that the big advocates of this kind of regulation are conservatives. Note: this isn't really regulating what you're thinking. You can't go to jail for that. It's regulating what you possess to watch or listen to..That would include illegally downloaded material in violation of copyright.

 

In the UK the state broadcaster the BBC are just a mouthpiece for the establishment just one-sided arguments on everything the government want the population to believe like COVID-19- Brexit. They have given the police extra powers to step in and stop people from protesting without a good reason to do so. This country is becoming less free by the day. The people need to wake up before it's to late, they're so compliant with everything their told to do and the government are now just taking advantage of that.

 

Jimbee

Sorry you mention Benjamin Franklin, you mention the US constitution and the Supreme Court – but now you tell us this had nothing to do with the US?

I’m really finding it hard to understand what point you were trying to make?

 

Shanks

The problem is that the English keep voting for the right wing.

The BBC used to try to be objective but they have now been cowed by successive right wing governments, wealth owns most other UK media and drips anti-left wing propaganda whenever and wherever it can, it was bad before Brexit with Brexit it has become far far worse.

The question is why do the English so often fall for right wing lies they don’t have to just accept what the right wing media tell them to think.

 

The problem is the totally corrupt undemocratic electoral system where this government got approximately 13-1/2 Million votes, that's only about 20 percent of the overall population, 80 percent of the nation either voted for other parties or did not vote or were underage and could not vote. The establishment have the system set up to retain power, and at the same time the so-called opposition are completely unelectable.

 

Don't sweat it. It happens to all of us

 

I have zero political correctness in me. I say it like it is. I'm not worried about offending someone. You only get offended by how you intrepid the words.

 

I think every government is guilty of this via constant nationalisticly biased propaganda crafted by the nation in questions intel communities under the indirect guidance of that nation's fiscal elite or that of the nation's allies
ex. slogans such as "Vietnam, ours was a noble cause" which imho is a sort of psy-op intended to help whitewash the psychological scarring one who had taken part in a great evil unwittingly might face once realizing their actions were by no means noble.

I suppose we'll come to hear similar feel-good brainwashing slogans eventually as we move further away from our failed occupation of Afghanistan.

 

We have absolutely created yet another horror show in the region, laying out essentially the same framework we had previously left behind by abandoning them once we felt our needs of dick-swinging in a proxy war against Russia had been met.

It leaves me wondering how long until the next Osama bin laden extracts their vengeance for our reckless, feckless nationalism abroad.