Archive for the ‘The First Ammendment’ tag
Because that is how it is done in Europe
There they go again! This time the NY Times questions the merits of the American approach toward freedom of speech. What is strikingly shocking is that the only justification to ban certain form of speech, particularly what many define as “hate speech” is because:
“In much of the developed world, one uses racial epithets at one’s legal peril, one displays Nazi regalia and the other trappings of ethnic hatred at significant legal risk, and one urges discrimination against religious minorities under threat of fine or imprisonment,” Frederick Schauer, a professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, wrote in a recent essay called “The Exceptional First Amendment.”
The mere fact that other countries find it appropriate to regulate opinions seems to those who advocate for imposing the same legal structure in the US. This argument seems so strong in fact that I could not find any other justification - nor the argument that such freedom promote violence, any supporting data to prove the horrible damage inflicted by the, almost, unrestricted freedom of speech in the US. Nor does the article bother to show any evidence of any benefit derived from restricting the right of people to express their opinion, as wrong and hateful as they might be.
I have to admit that I’m using similar litmus test, but also very different - If it was adopted by Western European countries it have to be very suspicious. Quite often the comparison reviles that the European system is not such a good deal…