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Disorderly Conduct Charge for Offensive Classmate Ratings

Hatta writes "A Chicago-area teenager who posted a demeaning list of female classmates on Facebook has been arrested for disorderly conduct. Is this an appropriate response to online harassment, or a threat to free speech?"

4 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. Re:yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Yes, there should be a consequences. For example, this guy made a list of asshole bitches. Although that doesn't seem like much of a consequence, they really should be arrested for being uptight cunts or something.

  2. Re:Over the top, but not a free speech issue by syousef · · Score: 1, Troll

    Free speech doesn't protect racist or sexist slurs.

    Yes, it does.

    No it doesn't and it does not matter how many times you repeat the fallacy. Verbal assault is recognised as a criminal act in most countries that protect free speech.

    --
    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  3. Re:No Such Thing as Free Speech by bky1701 · · Score: 1, Troll

    "When a reporter in Russia gets disappeared for saying the wrong things; when a man in Afghanistan gets his organs spread around town square for dancing with his wife; when an elderly Chinese woman is sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor for requesting a permit to protest at the Olympics... that is a lack of freedom."

    Because some people are worse off does not necessarily mean you are well off. However, I would agree that in the US we have it well. I'm not saying otherwise, but rather, that no government truly respects free speech, and all are constantly moving against it (among many other freedoms.)

    The fact that there is absolutely no freedom of speech at all in some countries is exactly why we should be so concerned about letting it be trampled upon. If you know your American history, you'll know it was not always that great here, especially for some groups. It is not unreasonable to fear the fact that could happen again, especially with a massive social movement afoot to bring our politics back to the 19th century. Freedoms aren't free, and simply having them is not a guarantee you always will.

    I think you're reading too much into what I said, then. I'm not saying that ANY restriction at all automatically makes it as bad as total dictatorial censorship, which would be absurd. I'm saying that free speech is constantly under assault by those who claim to have good intentions, and that as a nation, we never really were fully behind free speech, but instead always willing to make exceptions to suit the current political and social climate.

    I definitely sympathize with those who have it worse, and wish there was more that could be done to help them. Unfortunately, to a large extent, that is their own fight, at least to start.

  4. Re:No Such Thing as Free Speech by Khyber · · Score: 1, Troll

    "You don't know what it is to lack free speech, because you've had it all your life"

    Umm, bullshit. Go up to a cop and say "Get your lazy ass back to work if you aren't on a sanctioned break" back in the 60s and watch what happens.

    You're terribly ignorant.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.