Freedom of speech?

Question

Do we really have freedom of speech in the US? Or do we simply imagine or assume more than really exists?

Are there practical, common sense limits, and are there perhaps other more sinister limits?

Discuss....why and why not.

If not, please give examples if you can.

I've put together an interesting collection of essay excerpts on my Yahoo blog page: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-cT6jAhs3dL4i4CMyNKzXFIWm_Ao-?cq=1

Thank you! At least some people are awake out there!

Bush supporters CANNOT possibly deny these restrictions to honest American dissent. They happened.

How in the name of everything honest and decent to people conveniently IGNORE or DENY that these "free speech zones" were created to keep demonstrators away from the cameras?

Answer 1

Do you remember the last presidential inauguration?

Bush created "free speech zones" to corral all protesters far away from the media and the president for "security reasons".

If you exercised your freedom of speech outside that corralled off area, you were subject to arrest and prosecution (for disobeying a so called lawful order).

To do this in the name of "security reasons" you must first make the faulty assumption that anyone that intended to do harm would never even think of acting like a supporter.

According to the constitution, the entire US is a free speech zone.

Answer 2

Interesting question, the answer is yes and no, yes our freedom of speech is more absolute than any other nation, no in the sense that no freedom is absolute, fighting words, and speech that will imminently endanger a man or the government in not permitted, but as far as I know those are the only limits. An example of my first statement is, on the first day of operation desert storm the British government would allow no anti-war music to be played on the radio in the U.K., could you imagine that in the U.S., I think not!

How does a comparison of the BBC and CNN derive that, do you think our government stops CNN from publishing a story, I assure you they dont, maybe CNN just has some self-control, ONLY ONCE HAS A U.S. PRESIDENT EVER ISSUED A PRIOR RESTRAINT ORDER, JIMMY CARTER, and that was because a magazine was about to publish a story that described how to make a nuclear bomb, the Judge in that case begged them not to appeal to the supreme court because he did not want the S.C. to issue a prior restraint order, thankfully they did not appeal. Our media could publish any thing they want, they simple choose not too, thankfully, the BBC also publishes numerous false stories, and the British government does have some power to issue a prior restraint order seeing as parliments power knows no bounds.

Answer 3

Do we really have freedom of speech in the US? - Yes

Are there practical, common sense limits - Yes, you can't just yell "fire" in a crowded theater

If you want to be an idiot and deny the Holocaust, you have a right to do so. In Europe you would be in jail.

Answer 4

We have freedom of speech in this country. You are allowed to say what you want, complain about what you want, and be as smart or as dumb with your comments as you choose.
However, with freedom comes responsibility and integrity. We are responsible to be educated about what we say. We are responsible to not say things that will endanger the lives of others or hurt the security of our nation. We also must have integrity which means we shouldn't lie to prove a point. Stick to the facts, not emotional ploys to try and sway people.
Going back to the question of freedom of speech today, it is interesting to note that we have more freedom of speech today than at any other time in the history of the US. During the revolutionary war, you could have been thrown in jail for saying negative things about the new country. Disagreements were treated as treason from Washington to Lincoln. During WWI and WWII, those that spoke out against the country, or in favor of the enemy were detained. The cold war had the most intrusion from the CIA/FBI than at any other point, even today. During the early 1900's, Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore would have been executed as traitors for what they say today.

Answer 5

You have all the freedom of speech you could want, with one notable exception - on almost any college campus the only people who have freedom of speech are the far left kooks. Any one else like a (horrors) conservative is not invited in the first place, shouted down or actually assaulted, see Columbia Univ.

Answer 6

If you look at all the media in the US and compare with BBC or Al Jazeera, it becomes quite evident without any shadow of doubt that the US media does not or cannot practise Freedom of Speech.

Answer 7

The right of Freedom of speech or any other Freedom that we enjoy stops at the point of effecting the Freedom of others. Without restrictions on all of our Freedoms it would not be Freedom , it will be Anarchy.