Please never again tell me I focus too much on freedom of speech. A man just got convicted of making a tasteless joke.
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Not just a joke though, is it? It’s incitement. And it’s not in private. It’s taking advantage of a public platform. What did he expect to gain other than self-publicity and stirring up hatred?
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Incitement to what? Other people now pointing out to me, it really doesn't matter that it was a joke. It matters that someone got arrested for being offensive. We must defend the right to say things that we find appalling if we want to be able to say things others find appalling.pic.twitter.com/Lns9f0mFn5
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Are you saying there is no limit whatsoever to freedom of speech or are we just disagreeing about the level at which it is set?
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No limit to the free expression of ideas/opinions, no. Even really horrible ones must be allowed to be spoken.
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At risk of invoking Godwin’s Law, so Hitler was OK until he personally ordered the first Jew to be killed?
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He wasn't OK, no. But slippery slopes don't work. People have to be proposing a threat before we can move against them. Until then, we can argue and monitor and counteract.
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There is a limit to freedom of speech then? The level of the physical (mental?) threat posed by what is said. This is a very hard line to define so, as I said earlier, we are differing only on exactly where to draw it. A highly subjective judgement!
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By freedom of speech, I am referring specifically to the free exchange of ideas. Threatening people, breaking confidentiality, advocating violence and other harm done with mouths are rightly illegal.
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