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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (140428)	7/15/2004 1:02:43 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Free speech entails risk. That's the whole point of living in a free society, and that's the problem with people today. They want all the benefits of a free society, but only if they come wrapped up in risk free party paper. I don't think so. This country was founded by men who were willing to die, and potentially lose all their property rights for free speech (and other freedoms)- and you want it to be curtailed because the police might not be effective enough in keeping the citizenry down? Free speech means nothing if you don;t have the right to really offend people. Polite speech, that risks nothing, isn't the kind of speech that needs protection.

To: Neocon who wrote (140428)	7/15/2004 1:06:51 PM
From: Dennis O'Bell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I don't know much detail about the Skokie case so can't really judge. I only cited what the ACLU themselves said on their web page (I forgot to put quotes in, but the text following the link was theirs and not mine.) I do think our respect for freedom of speech is handled better here in the US than in, say, France where almost inevitably, attempts to suppress freedom of speech on some pretext or another end up backfiring and giving the individuals free publicity they would normally not enjoy.

To: Neocon who wrote (140428)	7/15/2004 5:30:16 PM
From: jttmab	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I think that the ACLU was wrong in the Skokie case. You should mention the other groups that you think were wrong as well...the Illinois Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. It's also worth noting that Skokie passed three ordinances banning marches and demonstrations by Nazis. The authorities in Skokie were not in a position to police the event adequately. As I recall, the anticipation of violence does not justify prior restraint. Aside: You may have recently seen on channel 9 a public service announcement. There is a KKK rally in Sharpsburg and the Imperial Wizard has requested that attendees not bring guns. jttmab