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NY Senators Want To Make Free Speech A Privilege
An anonymous reader writes "A group of four NY state senators have written a paper suggesting that free speech should be looked upon as a government granted privilege rather than a right. They're specifically concerned about cyberstalking and cyberbullying, and are introducing legislation to make both of those against the law. Among other troubling concepts, they argue that merely 'excluding' someone from a group is a form of cyberbullying."
by this attempt, and expect restitution for their callous behavior and pissing on the Bill of Rights.
why would you want to keep the holocaust deniers at bay by giving up the right of free speech?
are holocaust deniers that big a pest or is your free speech worth that little?
They spent World War II fighting the Nazis. Then they spent the Cold War fighting the Communists. Now they are becoming them. Fucking bastard asshole bags of shit. Hang'em high.
I believe Thomas Jefferson would argue that the "right to revolt" comes from nature, and does not need to be outlined in any legal document.
Only thats not at all what's written. Read the entire report for yourself, you'll be pleasantly suprised. The report has some fairly decently nuanced considerations and is being damned by a single, out of context quote. Hell read onto the next page if you like
HOLY SHIT, THEYRE CONSIDERING THE LAW AS IT'S WRITTEN AND APPLIED IN THE REAL WORLD, NOT MY IDEOLOGICAL BUNKER!!!!!
Actually, no. The first amendment is pretty clear - and prior restraint is a violation of free speech. Just because something is bad doesn't mean you should ban it - you can still make certain types of statements a crime - but to suggest that preventing someone from uttering them is not a first amendment violation is wrong, IMHO.
They may be trying to make a good faith effort to not violate the first, but I think they fail.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
In essence;
WE ARE AWARE OF THE EXISTENCE OF A CONSTITUTION THAT PROTECTS PEOPLE'S RIGHTS, BUT WE WILL CIRCUMVENT THESE PROTECTIONS IN THE FOLLOWING WAY:
It also has a plenty of nuance, read the next page if you like
IN SUMMARY, ALTHOUGH SPEECH IS GENERALLY PROTECTED, OUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THIS FACT SHOULD MAKE YOU LESS SCARED THAT WE ARE ABOUT TO ERODE YOUR RIGHTS. IN
Holy crikey, the OP might have made some sense.
It's pretty much irrelevant what they're proposing, because they're trying to fix something that really doesn't need fixing. In fact, if anything their solution makes the problem worse.
The correct solution is to help kids deal with emotional and verbal abuse, not try to outlaw it. You're not doing anyone any favors by putting them in a protective shell until they hit a certain age, then releasing them into the wild to get hammered by all the nasty stuff Real Life has to offer all at once. Some parts of life suck. But you have to learn to deal.
There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
You were that easily fooled? It's exactly like saying - "Not to insult you or anything but you are an idiot." Just because they preface it by saying that they don't want to piss on the first amendment. If YOU read the whole thing you'll see they are trying to broaden a couple of decisions to be so all-encompassing and vague that even this message I am writing right now will be covered if there happens to be a minor reading it who gets offended.
Considering the 1st amendment as absolute protection is something that I'm pretty sure has absolutely never been done. There's precedent out the wazoo for it, from defamation laws to false advertising laws to copyright laws.
Cultures who outlaw dickwads are at the mercy of those who define the term "dickwad." Wait until your favorite religion/race/affiliation/cereal-brand is a "hate crime."
This is why, as a morally and theologically conservative Christian, I would describe myself as libertarian. The more power you give the government to enforce your views, the more power you give the government to use against you.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
Sexual assault is a part of life. It's GOING to happen. It sucks, but that's how it is. The correct solution is for adults to help people learn how to deal with it, not find ways to make it illegal.
Right? Why not?
Cyberbullying is not exercising your right to call Tommy a jerk online. Its systematic harassment bordering if not jumping off into full on psychological torture.
It should be illegal along with all other forms of harassment, stalking, and so forth.
The correct solution is to help kids deal with emotional and verbal abuse, not try to outlaw it.
The correct solution is to help emotional and verbal abusers stop emotionally and verbally abusing people, not try to outlaw it. Only helping kids deal with it is like only helping the victims of any crime--it doesn't actually disincentivize the behavior on the part of the abuser.
Just because someone should have a thick enough skin or enough self-confidence to shrug off a verbal attack does not mean that someone else should be making that attack.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
From personal experience, I agree. In high school, I was bullied so much by one group of kids (who would ignore me if they passed me in the hall individually) that I became paranoid. Any laughter I heard, I assumed was directed at me. I didn't feel like I could talk to my parents or teachers, I only had one friend I felt comfortable confiding in. I couldn't fight back since a) I didn't want to get in trouble and b) even if I did, the five or six of them could easily beat me up. I ignored them the best I could, but that just bottles the feelings up. I dreaded going to school every day because I knew I'd be tormented at every turn.
My one friend finally spoke with the bullies (late in senior year). They thought they were just having some fun and didn't realize there were consequences. Although they stopped, it took many years of college before I recovered. In some ways, I've never recovered and never will.
Fighting bullying needs a three pronged approach. You need to help the kids who are bullied, educate the bullies as to the consequences for their actions, and, should the bullies not care about the bullied child at all, have some legal recourse to take against them. If cappp's assessment is right, this is a good thing. We might have freedom of speech but that doesn't mean we get to say whatever we want without any consequences.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.