Skip to main content

Worthwhile vs. Worthless Speech




“Provocation to Anger” Speech or in Supreme ruling to Chaplinsky (1942) “fighting words” is vague, left-to-interpretation offense that can lead to great oppressive slander without persecution to minority groups. In recent years, Judge Murphy’s distinction for “fighting words”  is blowing up on social media with anti-semitic post and other threats and hate speeches that show a rise in white nationalism. In all, this rise in hate speech makes me curious about the distinction between worthwhile and worthless speech.
Social media has been centered around a huge debate about what can and cannot appropriate, worthwhile and worthless by social standards, but this rise in white nationalism redefines social standards. Can a person on the internet or even for an example Charlottesville Protests by white nationalist be allowed to have all First and Fourteenth Amendment rights  while creating a disturbance and threats to others around them? Extreme right-wing protesters in Charlottesville on August 12 screamed out profanity and racial slurs like, “ Go f---k back to Africa” while waving American flags.

In reality, Charlottesville ended in tragedy but in some other whelm if Charlottesville did not lead to the death of Heather Heyer could these right winged protesters have free rights to slander. By Judge Murphy’s explanation of “fighting words”, could it be considered worthwhile due to other courts?  




"U.S. Anti-Semitic Incidents Spike 86 Percent so Far in 2017 After Surging Last Year, ADL Finds", ADL, www.adl.org/news/press-releases/us-anti-semitic-incidents-spike-86-percent-so-far-in-2017

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gamifying Citizenship

The historical context of freedom of speech is an extremely interesting one. Why is it that the concept of free speech has been an undying one and has span the history of human communication. Breaking free speech in to three traditional rationals makes the concept easier to understand and definitely makes sense. These three modes of freedom of speech are philosophical, political and individual. They are easy to distinct from one another and function in completely different ways. From a philosophical level, free speech is a device of truth. That if people are able to speak freely and let their ideas compete, "in the long run the truth will prevail" according to Tedford and Herbeck. I find this interesting, because in my mind, this is the most important facet of free speech. I say this, because I find free speech essential for any kind of societal advancements. If people are not allowed to speak their mind and share their ideas, or discredit others ideas, how is a society supp...
1 comment
Read more

Wedding Cake Court Case (make-up post)

Wedding cake court case involving a gay couple, Charlie Craig & David Mullins, and a cake baker, Jack Phillips, who refused to bake a wedding cake for the couple. Just all around, it's a tricky debate with many different angles due to the baker arguing on the grounds of the First Amendment---its protections for free speech and the free exercise of religion. In the end, I think it comes down to whether we consider baking a cake qualifies an exercise of freedom of expression. I would say that it depends on the situation/context of baking. If Mr. Phillips wants his cake baking to be categorized artistic expression that falls under free expression, he can just go bake a cake on his own. Only then when he's on his own private time does it qualify, but as soon as he offered his skills as a public service via his business, I'd argue he gave that right to expression up. Also, what's stopping other artisans/professional services to deny services? By Mr. Phillip's logic...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why is Freedom of Speech Important in a Democracy

While reading Chapter 15, I got the sense that the book was really coming full circle. In the first week of class, we established a meaning for freedom of speech and that shared meaning allowed us to navigate the classroom together as a classroom and a collective group. Creating a space that also involved mutual respect of opinons but encouraging difference in them as well. This brings me to an article I found about the importance of Freedom of Speech in a democracy. It is a basic human right to be able to express opinions and beliefs in our country. Although that is the main component, just like we established in class the first few weeks, in a government and democracy, Freedom of Speech also consists of the ability to listen to people with difference in opinions. In the article , editor Rachael  Jolly says, “ We are going through a time where people don’t want to be on a panel with people they disagree with. But we should feel comfortable being in a room with people who disagree ...
4 comments
Read more