[MD] Free Speech

[pholden at davtv.com]

Quoting ARLO J BENSINGER JR <ajb102 at psu.edu>:

> [Arlo]
> I hope the conservative outcry over these are loud!
> 
> [Platt]
> And I hope the liberal outcry of [attempts to ban the word "nigger"] is louder:
> 
> [Arlo]
> Don't worry, I support your freedom to use the word "nigger", Platt. Like I
> said, it makes identifying fools (whether rappers or rednecks, thugs or
> comedians) all the easier for the rest of us. So, are you on my side in
> condemning Maine and Denver? (For outlawing beer based on the label, and fining
> a woman for displaying a peace-shaped wreath).
> 
> Here's another issue. Is this a violation of free speech?
> 
> http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/02/funeral.protest.ap/index.html
> 
> Since you seem to champion the cause of derogatory-laden speech, do you permit
> them to use this speech to disrupt funerals? Why or why not?
> 
> BISMARCK, North Dakota (AP) -- A church group that protests at military funerals
> around the country will be barred from services for an American Indian soldier
> on a reservation, tribal officials say.
> 
> Members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, planned to demonstrate
> at National Guard Cpl. Nathan Goodiron's funeral on Saturday at the Fort
> Berthold Indian Reservation.
> 
> Church members say the deaths of soldiers are punishment from God for the
> country's tolerance of homosexuals.
> 
> Tribal leaders passed a resolution Friday that prohibits the group from
> protesting on the reservation, said Marcus Wells Jr., chairman of the Three
> Affiliated Tribes.
> 
> "We will not tolerate any harassment that is intended to provoke ill feelings
> and violence," he said.

I champion the cause of free speech no matter what fools say, either at tribal
funerals, on beer bottles or in college classrooms. But, as Pirsig points out,
individuals considered fools "by the rest of us" are sometimes the catalysts for
Dynamic growth. Glad to see such student "fools" at Penn State and Temple
University are now protected from faculty reprisals by newly issued academic
freedom policies. The intellectual level can claim a victory against political
social forces. Thank God.

   


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