Definitely I think being brought up in America has something to do with it, I think you guys defend free speech just for the sake of defending it. I saw somewhere, think it was on youtube, this guy called a black guy the n word, and the the black guy replies, and a very eloquent, and i think touching way "i hate what you say and represent, but i would fight to the death to defend your right to say it" or something along those lines. Now that's very admirable, but at the same time, almost brainless, and mindless, it's like it was just drilled into him since he was a child and he knows no better than to question "free speech! free speech! free speech! free speech!!!!!". I think we can do better, I think we can be practical, we can draw the line, we can set a better standard. That's my belief, I'm not settling for this "but but but free speech!" defense.
If you give someone permission to hurt someone else just by claiming something to the effect of "He called me a ******" then you can be damn sure they're going to abuse it. You can't outlaw racism. Racism is opinion, and we're all entitled to our opinions. Just like you can't outlaw words. Opinions and words are essentially harmless, it's when they manifest in destructive action that we have a problem - but that is why we have laws against assault, murder, etc. I agree that racism, indeed, any disdainful attitude formed on arbitrary grounds, is undesirable. But attempting to regulate peoples opinions and attitudes is a dangerous step to take. Freedom of speech & opinion is one of the most important liberties we have, and sacrificing even an ounce of it so that a few thin-skinned people won't have their feelings hurt is unacceptable.
That's the American way. We don't accept the government's right to tell us what is "good" free speech that should be defended. That gives all the power to the government. Or at least that's my understanding of it.
It's not anymore dangerous than letting racists roam free. And thin skinned people? So anyone who takes offense to the n word has thin skin, is that what you're saying?
Fair enough, our protection of "free speech" is meant to , and IMHO should be, rather mindless. Freedom of speech, by definition, should not take into consideration what is being said. So long as it is truly only speech and expression and not action, I think that all speech should be allowed-without thought. One thing that might be coloring your view of American ideals of free speech is the fact that you are focusing on the negative positions free speech is helping. I would contest that far more positive causes have been furthered by American free of speech than bad ones: civil rights, workers rights, gay rights, women's rights, veteran's rights, students rights, peace, latino rights, disability rights, health care rights, slave rights, ANTI-Hate campaigns,etc, etc. None of these causes would have gotten passed government censorship without major fights save for our freedom of speech.
The government is made up of people just like you, americans from american families, grew up in american neighbourhoods went to american schools, american colleges and work in an american government. Politicians are just a reflection of the society that made them.
This is what I'm saying/want: we keep the good stuff, get rid of the bad stuff. That's all I'm saying.
Do you think it's reasonable to allow the government to regulate what you think and feel? What words you can use to express yourself? People who take offense to something as inherently harmless as a word are seriously out of touch with what's important, probably too thin-skinned, and also quite possibly idiots.
If you ban racist verbal expression then racists will express themselves in other ways. All of those others ways are less nice than calling someone a "******".
You're the fucking troll, you just said that people who are offended by racism are probably idiots, I was being polite when I said you were insensitive, that really was just a dumb ass thing to say.
You're ignoring most of my post, and if you knew anything about the real world you'd know just how insignificant words are. And now you're twisting my words - or you failed to comprehend them in the first place.
No, he said that people who are offended by the word "******" (among other offensive words) are probably idiots. I don't know why you can't grasp that the word "******" isn't necessarily correlated with racism. You are the one who's giving it the power to offend you. The rest of us are simply seeing the joke in it. Please refrain from personally attacking other members.
and what we are saying is good and bad are subjective and inevitably its not fair to pick and choose what you deem good and bad.
You're out of touch if you don't realise how significant words can be, and they are, very significant, you really are ignorant if you don't know that, language is everything.
Words are significant only if you attach significance to them. They are, in themselves, completely and utterly harmless.
Ohhhh I see, so you're not responsible for what you say, it's the people who you throw the words at. How convenient for you. So when I call you an asshole, if you take offense, that's your own fault, not mine? ... Sweet.
If you call me an asshole, and I allow that to affect my reality, self-image, or whatever, then yes, that's on me. That doesn't mean you're not a douche, though.
