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To conservatives the most important aspect of freedom of speech is freedom of speech.

Opinions about free speech have not much to do with the liberal-conservative axis.

For example, the ACLU is generally considered a liberal organization, and it's been a staunch defender of free speech, most notably defending the right of a neo-Nazi group to march through a mostly Jewish neighborhood. But the liberal Tipper Gore created the Parents Music Resource Center to advocate for muzzling lyrics of popular songs dealing with sex, violence, drugs, and the occult.

It also varies among conservatives. Frank Zappa was a self-identified conservative and a staunch opponent of Tipper Gore's effort. But when the cops were doing their jackbooted thug routine on Occupy Wall St, a lot of conservatives were cheering them on.

A good example of the variety of attacks on free speech can be seen over at the Thomas Jefferson Center Muzzle Awards: Sometimes it's liberals, sometimes it's conservatives.

It wouldn't be the first time...

But he doesn't yet have a lifetime muzzle award like Rudolph Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City.

Yeah, like their story about the kid who got harassed by a school administrator for wearing an NRA shirt to school.

I'm sick to death of hearing about that mewling little Communist, Charleton Heston, and all his pinko pals.

If he hasn't already, John Ashcroft deserves an honorary trophy all for himself.

He has one

My school's filter has blocked the Muzzle Awards under the category of "Pornographic and Recreational Nudity"! -Joe

Don't get me wrong, I support free speech, but this wall isn't free speech so much as it is a place to leave a temporary message. According to the FAQ:

There are two ways in which a private citizen may respond to something they don't like on the chalkboard. They may either write a response stating why they don't like what they see or, they may clean all or part of the slate. In addition, regardless of what is on it, the slate will be cleaned by maintenance staff on a regularly scheduled basis. Thus, everything placed on the monument is temporary.

The whole thing seems more like an art exhibit than a public place for free speech. And frankly, it isn't all that exciting.

It's good to see our little monument here on Slashdot. Here's the story behind this uniquely Charlottesvillian creation.

Sometime around 1995 or 1996, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Speech had the idea that we should have a monument to free speech. They created a board, and asked for submissions from the public sometime in '98ish, IIRC. They got a lot of submissions, some quite creative, but the best one (and thus the winner) was the idea of having a chalkboard. Well, the board selected that one, though surely they knew full well that they were opening a can of worms.

City Council, as you can imagine, was not thrilled with this. The location of this monument was to be directly in front of city hall. It hadn't occurred to them that they were setting themselves up for a 60' wall; they were thinking maybe a small sculpture or something. So the topic was debated before council, and the general consensus was "what if somebody says something bad?"

Council finally voted on it a few weeks ago, and it, fortunately, passed. It very nearly didn't. The tricky thing about a proposal like this is that there's no turning it down. Once the genie is out of the bottle (to use the GPL comparison), anybody voting against it can be derided as being anti-free speech. Perhaps not fairly; one could be opposed to it for asthetic reasons, as Councilman Toscano was. (I think he actually voted against it for those very reasons.)

My mother (a commentator for NPR) had a reading at the TJ Center just last week, coincidentally. I spoke with the director of the center about this very topic, as it's a hot one in town. We talked about some of the practical problems.

What if somebody erases somebody else's writing?
Tough. We can't very well pass a long against erasing other people's ideas. In fact, that would accomplish the very opposite of what is intended by this monument. (BTW, I call it a "memorial," because of Charlottesville's serious First Amendment violations, like the youth curfew. So everybody has to accept that whatever they write could be erased immediately afterwards.

What if it's used for commercial purposes?
That's speech, too. Let it happen. It would be great if it were so popular and oft-visited (people don't tend to congregate by City Hall, save for during Fridays After Five) that, say, Trax started writing their weekly line-up on that wall. That would be OK.

What if people write hate-speech? What if the KKK writes nasty things?
They get to do that. Other people also get to erase it.

People will inevitably spray-paint it. Won't it be ruined quickly?
Perhaps, but there's an easy solution. This chalkboard will have a surface that is spray-painted on. If it gets defaced, it's easy to cover over the defaced area so that people can keep writing.

Will it ever be fully erased? By whom?
It hasn't been fully decided how often to erase it, whose job that will be, etc. Mostly because nobody knows how popular it will be. Could be daily, could be weekly, could be monthly.

What if somebody says something defamatory?
What if somebody puts up posters that are defamatory? There are laws in place to handle this. No problem.

The timeline for this is that it should be in by the end of 2002. The City is in the process of changing the whole layout of that area of downtown, so I think that they want to roll this work into that. Waiting until 2002 gives the TJ Center time to raise money, too, which is important. If anybody is interested in donating to this project, you can find contact info on their site. BTW, this is all recreated from memory, so I apologize for factual errors and such.

-Waldo

It's good to see our little monument here on Slashdot. Here's the story behind this uniquely Charlottesvillian creation.

Sometime around 1995 or 1996, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Speech had the idea that we should have a monument to free speech. They created a board, and asked for submissions from the public sometime in '98ish, IIRC. They got a lot of submissions, some quite creative, but the best one (and thus the winner) was the idea of having a chalkboard. Well, the board selected that one, though surely they knew full well that they were opening a can of worms.

City Council, as you can imagine, was not thrilled with this. The location of this monument was to be directly in front of city hall. It hadn't occurred to them that they were setting themselves up for a 60' wall; they were thinking maybe a small sculpture or something. So the topic was debated before council, and the general consensus was "what if somebody says something bad?"

Council finally voted on it a few weeks ago, and it, fortunately, passed. It very nearly didn't. The tricky thing about a proposal like this is that there's no turning it down. Once the genie is out of the bottle (to use the GPL comparison), anybody voting against it can be derided as being anti-free speech. Perhaps not fairly; one could be opposed to it for asthetic reasons, as Councilman Toscano was. (I think he actually voted against it for those very reasons.)

My mother (a commentator for NPR) had a reading at the TJ Center just last week, coincidentally. I spoke with the director of the center about this very topic, as it's a hot one in town. We talked about some of the practical problems.

What if somebody erases somebody else's writing?
Tough. We can't very well pass a long against erasing other people's ideas. In fact, that would accomplish the very opposite of what is intended by this monument. (BTW, I call it a "memorial," because of Charlottesville's serious First Amendment violations, like the youth curfew. So everybody has to accept that whatever they write could be erased immediately afterwards.

What if it's used for commercial purposes?
That's speech, too. Let it happen. It would be great if it were so popular and oft-visited (people don't tend to congregate by City Hall, save for during Fridays After Five) that, say, Trax started writing their weekly line-up on that wall. That would be OK.

What if people write hate-speech? What if the KKK writes nasty things?
They get to do that. Other people also get to erase it.

People will inevitably spray-paint it. Won't it be ruined quickly?
Perhaps, but there's an easy solution. This chalkboard will have a surface that is spray-painted on. If it gets defaced, it's easy to cover over the defaced area so that people can keep writing.

Will it ever be fully erased? By whom?
It hasn't been fully decided how often to erase it, whose job that will be, etc. Mostly because nobody knows how popular it will be. Could be daily, could be weekly, could be monthly.

What if somebody says something defamatory?
What if somebody puts up posters that are defamatory? There are laws in place to handle this. No problem.

The timeline for this is that it should be in by the end of 2002. The City is in the process of changing the whole layout of that area of downtown, so I think that they want to roll this work into that. Waiting until 2002 gives the TJ Center time to raise money, too, which is important. If anybody is interested in donating to this project, you can find contact info on their site. BTW, this is all recreated from memory, so I apologize for factual errors and such.

-Waldo