Freedom of speech

[beagle]

Good point. There's also the possibility of one of those awkward  Ceauşescu moments, when a couple of hours into your speech you realize the crowd isn't cheering as enthusiastically as usual.

[goat starer]

I dont really know what i think about this. A big part of me thinks speech should always be free but at the same time there are plenty of people I would happily gag. I rather suspect that freedom of speech is a luxury only to be enjoyed by a society in which the constituent members have the maturity and knowledge to excersise it reasonably.

Like all rights it should come tied to responsibilities - the main one being to have some idea about the factual content of whatever you are freely speaking on. Since most people seem quite content to pontificate on subjects they know nothing about I am not sure that we as a species have earned the right to have freedom of speech.

[Opsa]

*RUMBLE!* Well said, Goat.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I dont really know what i think about this. A big part of me thinks speech should always be free but at the same time there are plenty of people I would happily gag. I rather suspect that freedom of speech is a luxury only to be enjoyed by a society in which the constituent members have the maturity and knowledge to excersise it reasonably.

Like all rights it should come tied to responsibilities - the main one being to have some idea about the factual content of whatever you are freely speaking on. Since most people seem quite content to pontificate on subjects they know nothing about I am not sure that we as a species have earned the right to have freedom of speech.

I believe that in a perfect world the idea of 'volume' controls (the prevention of someone with the means drowning everyone with his particular speech) should take care of that: a particularly asinine speech should disappear among the voices of reason (that should be more prevalent).  If a man wants to say that little green men landed on his porch to have BBQ with him on Sunday, it should be fine because most people will consider the idea implausible enough to pay attention. The difficulty arise when a) the speech is too well funded or b) the speaker has the ability to convince others of his ideas regardless of their intrinsic value (a guy like Hitler, for example). 

The counterpart is who has the sense and incorruptibility to regulate what can or cannot be said?

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

The counterpart is who has the sense and incorruptibility to regulate what can or cannot be said?

I rather doubt anyone at all has that sense and incorruptibility. Better off leaving the man to his political enemies.

With the millionaire, if he's so prevalent, he'll probably get obnoxious and no one but his zealots would be willing to risk turning on the TV or the radio for fear of hearing him natter on about how them ee-legal aliens is killin' off oour job mar-ket or whatever.

I voted for no limits. It's not the government's place to interfere with what anyone at all says. 'Lies' are more often what is not said than what is, I think. Proselytizers are obnoxious, yes, but you can always slam the door in their face or say something so off-putting or offensive they leave you alone. And correcting a defamation should be left to the defamed (what does suing for it or screeching about do to correct it that proving it wrong doesn't?)
The bit that gets sticky for my vote is the yelling fire bit. If someone yells 'Shark!' at the beach, people are not going to take the time to look for the thing-they're going to bolt. That obviously leaves injuries caused by some moron thinking it was funny to yell shark when there wasn't one.
But how do you define 'harm?' Where does harm end?

[goat starer]

The counterpart is who has the sense and incorruptibility to regulate what can or cannot be said?

I rather doubt anyone at all has that sense and incorruptibility.

I do!

[Sibling Chatty]

The counterpart is who has the sense and incorruptibility to regulate what can or cannot be said?

I rather doubt anyone at all has that sense and incorruptibility.

I do!

Yes, silly, but you're a goat, and the hooves slow down your typing speed. You'd need a stenographer, and that's just not in the budget. DO reapply next funding time, however. That'll be in 2012, in the late Spring!

[Griffin NoName]

Hey! They promised that funding to me

[goat starer]

typing is unnecessary... I just give things I disapprove of a stern look.