Should right wingers have free speech?

Capitalist speech is almost always hateful and uninformed; as a matter of principle should we allow them to spread their rubbish in our society?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

(Duh ....)

Yes. Unquestionably.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

They will corrupt the people, though.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

The strength of our society

If our society is not strong enough to withstand stupidity, it is not strong enough to be our society.

I get the whole thing about child porn not being free speech. But no, I will not tread into banishing political speech.

How we treat the worst in our society is one of the fundamental measurements of its quality and vitality. And, frankly, as much as I loathe this particular corruption of mind, it is far from the worst in our society. If nothing else, we owe them compassion.

 

Only if we don't use our free speech to counter the stupidity. Let them talk...censoring them makes them seem more worthy of believing.

The ones who are blind followers will follow anyway.

 

From Russell's The Functions of a Teacher:

There is a widespread belief that nations are made strong by uniformity of opinion and by the suppression of liberty. One hears it said over and over again that democracy weakens a country in war, in spite of the fact that in every important war since the year 1700 the victory has gone to the more democratic side. Nations have been brought to ruin much more often by insistence upon a narrow-minded doctrinal uniformity than by free discussion and the toleration of divergent opinions. Dogmatists the world over believe that although the truth is known to them, others will be led into false beliefs provided they are allowed to hear the arguments on both sides.
http://www.kingphilip.org/faculty/ferreiraj/public_web/russell1.htm

There is no reason to fear an opponent's argument unless your own argument is weak.

 

Yep. Just as we allow far-left idiots to spread their rubbish. Here we trust people to figure out what the rubbish is and what the gems are.

 

*sigh*, you are right. I'm sorry. This thread was really made because I was reading about this stupid tea party business and I was really pissed.

You can close it/delete it if you want

 

Freedom of speech means absolutely nothing unless it protects the speech of those you disagree with.

 

On the basis of infantilizing the population, who must be protected from "bad" ideas, lest they come to the wrong conclusion. For an example, see the US in the 1950s.

Marxist dogma is clearly true if the evidence is examined; but at the same time, the forest of ideas must be clear cut if it is to have a chance to flourish.

 

Eternal vigilance

It's a tough sell. I mean, even to Christians, for heaven's sake.

People get anxious. We can watch worlds evolve before our eyes in video games. Somehow, life itself seems to move awfully slowly sometimes. Progress is precious, and people are feeling a bit dismal right now because of the state of things.

You know, for a while, there was a chance we would get a public option, despite Obama. I don't know how badly things will have to go before the next big change, but I guarantee you the lion's share of the problem will come from the private sector. Whether it will be enough to make a public option real? Well, just how bad is it going to get?

Well, that's the big question. Meanwhile, when we stop to consider what this suggests:

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

Economic Policy Institute, July, 2011​

Or, as Steve Benen explained this week:

Indeed, it's important to remember that these job losses are, in the eyes of Republicans, a positive development. Under the GOP economic model, the public sector is supposed to lose jobs, and as part of the party's austerity agenda, this is a problem that must get worse on purpose.

Earlier this year, for example, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was asked about his spending-cut plans and the fact that the cuts would force thousands of public-sector workers from their jobs. "So be it," the Republican said.

In other words, deliberately making unemployment worse wasn't seen as a problem. This is a feature of the GOP model, not a bug.​

Yes, there is an instinctive reaction that this ought not be allowed, but this is how the republic works. It's up to the people to figure out what to do. Congress is full of stooges, but it's not in the slightest funny.

The damage these people are capable of doing is insane.

Eternal vigilance, then, is the only real answer.
____________________

Notes:

Karimian, Arin. "Employment during the economic recovery". Economic Policy Institute. July 6, 2011. EPI.org. August 5, 2011. http://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/entry/employment_during_the_recovery/

Benen, Steve. "What a drag". Political Animal. August 5, 2011. WashingtonMonthly.com. August 5, 2011. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/what_a_drag031336.php

 

holy shit . the triple A credit rating of the U.S. was down graded by one of the reporting agencies . That is big . Not good
I know off topic . That is big .

 

ahhh, "whoever does not think like me is corrupt".

Meet the Dictator.

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

China is a state which sells out their own laborers to foreign corporations for cheap products.

Capitalism is against everything leftist.

That it is possible, however unlikely, that right-wingers may impede progress. E.g, the Tea Party movement here.

 

Strange isn't it that no countries during the past 30 years have turned to Communism but at least 5 countries have turned to Democracy and capitalism including Russia during that time frame.

 

Not really off topic since the down grade was largely, a repercussion of ill informed and unrestrained rightwing ideologies, constantly preached and over publicized. Free speech which fed and amplified the fears and insecurities rampant during a sever global recession, while bring the US Governments ability to address the underlying issues to a standstill.

We can only hope that the down grade will have a more significant impact on politics than on the US and global economies.

 

I don't in anyway condone China's internal social or international policies.

That said it should be noted that China's middle class is growing rapidly and with it their standard of living and expectations.

 

But don't you see the problem? It's a class...social classes are wrong.

 

There was only one c;ass in China until they started using a Capitalist way of doing business. Now China has at least two classes because of the ability to make new businesses and create new jobs.