Many Americans have no friends of another race: poll
Public_Domain @ Mon Aug 19, 2013 3:33 pm
BartSimpson @ Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:22 pm
Public_Domain Public_Domain:
Let's put it this way... Do you feel it is wise to post stuff on Facebook? Do you even feel it is specifically wise, for your personal security from state and company, to post on this site? With the whole of the internet at prey, how can you feel you are not expected to be silent for your own safety? When people complain about Google and Facebook and Apple and Microsoft, everyone says "Duh! Of COURSE you need to watch what you say!"
For the record, I've already had trouble for posting something on this site that was 'classified' without my knowledge. Thus I don't write much about my old job for the simple reason that no one cared to tell me what was or was not classified. So talking about the old job is off limits for me save for things that I know are innocuous or are already public domain.
But posting on Facebook? Nope, not for me.
Unsound @ Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:43 pm
Free speech isn't consequence-free speech.
Free speech imo simply means that there aren't legal constraints on what you say. You can't, or at least shouldn't, go to jail for using the word "nigger", but you can, and should, lose the respect of those who hear you do it. Depending on the circumstances you could lose your job for saying the word, and I don't think that abrogates your right to free speech. Although there is an interesting debate to be had over what cirumstances should or shouldn't affect your job.
Most of the western world has this kind of free speech. The media, the internet, even the coffee shops, are full of criticism of politicians, business leaders, and all sorts of other powerful interests and I doubt that many people have much fear that their lives will be ruined or their families endangered because of what they're saying.
That said, one of the scariest imo trends of the last decade or more is the rise of quasi-judicial bodies who do attempt to put up legal barriers against free speech.
Free speech should be tempered by common sense and decency, but those rules need to be enforced through social pressures not laws. Banning the use of a word like "nigger" simply drives the word and the thinking behind it underground to fester. Better by far to educate people on the history of it and the hurtfulness of it, and let people's innate decency do the rest.
BartSimpson @ Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:47 pm
Unsound Unsound:
That said, one of the scariest imo trends of the last decade or more is the rise of quasi-judicial bodies who do attempt to put up legal barriers against free speech.
Such people would do well to remember that their titles do not render them immune to retribution and eventual justice.
bambu @ Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:30 pm
Unsound Unsound:
Free speech isn't consequence-free speech.
Free speech imo simply means that there aren't legal constraints on what you say. You can't, or at least shouldn't, go to jail for using the word "nigger", but you can, and should, lose the respect of those who hear you do it. Depending on the circumstances you could lose your job for saying the word, and I don't think that abrogates your right to free speech. Although there is an interesting debate to be had over what cirumstances should or shouldn't affect your job.
Most of the western world has this kind of free speech. The media, the internet, even the coffee shops, are full of criticism of politicians, business leaders, and all sorts of other powerful interests and I doubt that many people have much fear that their lives will be ruined or their families endangered because of what they're saying.
That said, one of the scariest imo trends of the last decade or more is the rise of quasi-judicial bodies who do attempt to put up legal barriers against free speech.
Free speech should be tempered by common sense and decency, but those rules need to be enforced through social pressures not laws. Banning the use of a word like "nigger" simply drives the word and the thinking behind it underground to fester. Better by far to educate people on the history of it and the hurtfulness of it, and let people's innate decency do the rest.
Free speech imo simply means that there aren't legal constraints on what you say. You can't, or at least shouldn't, go to jail for using the word "nigger", but you can, and should, lose the respect of those who hear you do it. Depending on the circumstances you could lose your job for saying the word, and I don't think that abrogates your right to free speech. Although there is an interesting debate to be had over what cirumstances should or shouldn't affect your job.
Most of the western world has this kind of free speech. The media, the internet, even the coffee shops, are full of criticism of politicians, business leaders, and all sorts of other powerful interests and I doubt that many people have much fear that their lives will be ruined or their families endangered because of what they're saying.
That said, one of the scariest imo trends of the last decade or more is the rise of quasi-judicial bodies who do attempt to put up legal barriers against free speech.
Free speech should be tempered by common sense and decency, but those rules need to be enforced through social pressures not laws. Banning the use of a word like "nigger" simply drives the word and the thinking behind it underground to fester. Better by far to educate people on the history of it and the hurtfulness of it, and let people's innate decency do the rest.
Trouble is...Black people are walking around in T shirts etc with the said word plastered in big capital letters on them.
...then complain when some people today call them by that name.
bambu @ Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:41 pm
There's freedom for some...non Whites in particular ...to spew forth racist/hate speech.
Black comedians for example;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkwB76o-3Go
and Black group officials;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QWDkUVEFDA