... that people would be jailed for trying to protest outside of fundamentalist's places of worship.
Sigh. This is blue-state Michigan, not red-state Mississippi. I guess that in some parts of the country - the blue states - you have the right of free speech so long as you don't say anything offensive.
Kudos to the ACLU, though, for fighting for this one.
8 comments:
Freedom of speech does indeed make for strange bedfellows.
I jump in this bed in a begrudging sort of way. I have heard that he hung out for a time with that Westboro bunch that likes to show up and protest funerals. I believe that they have a right to their freedom of speech also. Even if they make asses out of themselves.
I heard this earlier this week about the ACLU, "They are kind of like a broken clock that's correct twice a day in spite of itself."
Matt, I'm entirely sure that the preacher who was jailed is a grandstanding jerk. Last I checked, the First Amendment applied to him.
The ACLU did a lot of damage to their brand with gun control. If they were to push that, I wouldn't have nearly so much of a problem with them. As it is, I see them as the "American (Limited) Civil Liberties Union".
I do believe it applies to him, never said it didn't. It just makes ill that he so uses his right "to grandstand".
Along with the gun control issues, my big thing with the ACLU is where they receive funding from. George Soros.
What is the practical difference between this and the klan rallies and the other white power protests and marches? Both the pastor and the segregationists are morally wrong but legally within their rights. I really thought this was settled long ago. I can't believe this decision will stand.
This is an old WW2 poem.
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Well if 'hanging together' means snuggling up to the ACLU...I'll hang seperately, thanks.
Not being able to provoke the hell out of stupid people does not infringe on my rights one iota.
The bit about the ACLU that Matt had is almost right, "They are kind of like a broken clock that's correct twice a day in spite of itself." should just say "...that's correct twice in spite of itself". They've probably been right twice in their history.
Occasionally they pull their heads out of their collective butts long enough to see something.
As I've said, including today, offensive speech must be protected. Inoffensive speech doesn't need protecting, so that's not an issue.
When we let Islamists bully government officials into curtailing anyone's right to speak, then we all lose.
I don't like Jones and I don't much like the ACLU, but the larger issue transcends that dislike. Next it will be liquor stores near mosques, then synagogues or churches, then butcher shops that carry pork product. All because they "offend" Islamist sensibilities.
If you don't believe me, look north to Canada and then east towards Europe.
The slope of curtailing rights is slippery and what's at the bottom is ugly.
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