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To: Dr. Eckleburg
I'm all for free speech, but the "National Socialist Movement/America's Nazi Party" does not merit a public platform.

I heard equally despicable opinions from the "More Millions" group on the Mall today. And how about the black march organizer that C-Span had on Thursday who called for the "extermination of whites worldwide". Yet these groups continuously get public platforms.

584 posted on 10/15/2005 5:02:15 PM PDT by montag813
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To: montag813

Farrakhan is a self-professed black supremacist.


586 posted on 10/15/2005 5:03:59 PM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: montag813; oh8eleven; thoughtomator; RJS1950; JABBERBONK; BlackJack; Mr. Rational; WildTurkey
Like it or not, free speech has limits. Where we place those limits determines the quality of our politics.

No one is excusing looting and anarchy. Arrest them all.

As I posted #65 and #120...

Exceptions established by the courts to the First Amendment protections include the following: Defamation; Causing panic; Fighting words; Incitement to crime; Sedition; Obscenity.

Fighting words: In the famous case of Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the First Amendment does not protect "fighting words -- those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace." (315 U.S. 568, 572 [1942])

Note that the harm involved is physical harm caused by someone else who was provoked by the speaker whose speech is being suppressed. The fact that someone else flies into a rage and causes physical harm results in justifying suppression of speech by another person.

It is simply not a cut-and-dried issue.

631 posted on 10/15/2005 5:47:10 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ('Deserves' got nothing to do with it.)
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