We are not that far behind folks

If anything, there seems to be a trend in the United States toward people saying the most offensive and politically incorrect things possible. Many do it anonymously online but not due to concerns about being prosecuted. We literally see Neo Nazis holding rallies and giving interviews without fear of arrest.

 

This is because we have strong free speech provisions in our constitution. This is a good thing. I remember a time when the ACLU fought on behalf of the KKK to be able to hold a rally. Free speech is about protecting speech you DON’T agree with.

 

Yes that's true. Speech is treated differently in Europe as well as other parts of the world.

 

But no concern about the possible squashing of people for saying mean things ?

 

I don't support criminalizing racist speech. I'm simply saying I don't see signs that's about to happen here.

 

There is something to be said for at least a residue of feistiness in the U.S., if only in flyover country.

 

There is no legal issues in the US. No worries for you all, you can be as racist as you want .. you just cant intimidate someone. Also you have to live with decent folks cancelling your ass by not wanting to associate with you... by exercising our rights.

 

Think I know what you're saying here, and there doesn't appear to be a lack of feistiness around the country as a hole.

 

I believe the urban-rural divide is palpable and that urbanists are far likelier to cede freedoms to central authorities than are their rural counterparts.

 

There is certainly a divide in the country. I just don't see a dearth of Americans willing to be feisty or willing to say insulting and offensive things about each other. We have that covered pretty well it seems, and I don't think it's something government can or should prohibit.

 

I would say the free speech laws are different.
BBC NEWS | England | Oxfordshire | 'Gay' police horse case dropped

... student who called a mounted policeman's horse "gay" will not be prosecuted, it has been revealed.

But police have stood by their decision to take Sam Brown to court.

Charges Dropped against British Woman Arrested for Praying outside Abortion Clinic

Vaughan-Spruce was approached by three police officers in early December while standing across the street from a Birmingham abortion clinic. The officers searched her and ultimately arrested her for violating a speech buffer zone after she conceded that she “might be” silently praying for women undergoing abortions inside.

 

I agree with your important demarcation of public vs private silencing. For the most part, the risk of reprisal for improper speech will come from other private citizens in this nation.

However, I am less certain that canceling should be seen as the proper action of decent folk. First, since all people are fallible, silencing certain viewpoints is quite likely going to slow our quest for truth. Canceling often has a political underpinning, eg A good deal of canceling is made up of liberals canceling people for espousing conservative beliefs. And several cancelations have been achieved by conservatives due to academics espousing liberal views. It runs in many directions and certainly casts a chilling effect on potentially useful speech.

Second, cancelation is often a rather blunt tool that can inflict real harm on people’s lives. Jonathan Rauch’s excellent The Constitution of Knowledge and Greg Lukianoff’s new The Canceling of the American Mind tell some pretty heartbreaking stories of people who were canceled.

While I think a lot of canceling comes from a good place of trying to uphold high morals, I don’t think that any group should believe they own a monopoly on what is moral. I think we would do a lot better if unpopular views were disputed rather than demonized.

 

I think @BigCypressGator1981 may have hacked your account.

 

“was found guilty after a trial at City of London Magistrates’ Court”

Using links from cases in other countries as backup for unlikely predictions?


ok. maga loves Russia and Putin. below could occur if Dear Leader ever gets back in office. He’s going after critics.

“A Russian man has been detained for making anti-war statements and his 12-year-old daughter temporarily taken into state care after the family faced pressure from authorities for drawings the girl made at school depicting Russia bombing a family in Ukraine.”



Russian man detained over daughter’s pro-Ukraine drawings | Russia | The Guardian

 

I thought this was going to be an overly optimistic thread about our football program.

 

Not that I agree with anything those idiots say or do, but that is the point of 1A. As long as they do not insight violence. Saying something that hurts someone's feelings is protected and should be.

Plus I swear these Nazi rallies we have seen look like feds. Not that they don't truly exist as there are always going to be extremists in any society.

 

Bit of a double-edge sword. The clean cut groups like the guys with the tiki torches have deliberately tried to mainstream and grow their numbers. They have day jobs, look otherwise presentable, and hide behind satire and coded language. That makes them less obvious and less offensive to the public but easier to infiltrate. In contrast, the guys who have Neo Nazi tattoos on their faces are fewer and more obvious, but the average agent would probably have an easier time going undercover in the mafia than blending in there.

 

Around the time of the Obama admin they branded themselves the “alt-right”, which is ultimately still just a neo-Nazi in khakis. I call them business casual Nazi’s.

Unfortunately their marketing worked somewhat, as there‘s no question there is much more far right influence in the Republican Party now vs. 15 years ago, including probably at least a dozen or more actual neo-Nazi sympathizers in the House. Obviously Trump has danced in these circles plenty. No mystery what he is.

 

MAKE ENGLAND FLORIDA!

odd you'd post this given I don't recall your objections to Chy-na Ron's war on free speech.