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Response to Thomas Cannady on "Censorship"

Reader comment on item: The Erratic Career of Western Music in Iran
in response to reader comment: Censorship

Submitted by Merry Whitney (United States), Dec 26, 2005 at 10:58

"We in America have laws against hurting people with comments..."

No, political correctness has no legal teeth. We in America have laws against slander and libel, and laws against inciting violence. But we have an absolute right under the First Amendment ("Congress shall make no law .... ; .... or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press... ... ") to spew insults, epithets, or any and all manner of coarse and denigrating verbal abuse which stops short of assault ("words or actions that put another person in apprehension of battery").

Certainly, polite society has always frowned upon too-freely exercising that absolute right -- traditionally, by ostracism or simply excluding habitual offenders from guest lists and avoiding their company whenever possible.

But those who are careless about "hurting people with comments" are not the only boors who deserve to be shunned. The PC police and their minions have done more damage to honest discourse in the past thirty years, than rampant hate speech could have done in a millennium.
Submitting....

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Reader comments (13) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Understanding this ban [69 words]saraJan 22, 2006 00:0732153
A turning point... [646 words]Justin H.Jan 13, 2006 10:5631568
Thanks, Daniel [23 words]JoeJan 4, 2006 18:0231057
A little birdie tells us... [68 words]Merry WhitneyDec 25, 2005 23:4430562
Censorship [138 words]Thomas Earl CannadyDec 25, 2005 11:2730542
Response to Thomas Cannady on "Censorship" [167 words]Merry WhitneyDec 26, 2005 10:5830542
The wimpyness of PC [104 words]Ede BrophyDec 30, 2005 13:0830542
re Beethoven [312 words]Jascha KesslerDec 24, 2005 14:4830503
Not Playing in Teheran [75 words]Josh GoldsteinDec 24, 2005 05:3130485
King Canute of Islam [87 words]diggerdeviantDec 20, 2005 10:1830243
Let the Music Play... Mr Pipes? [178 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Heather ClarkDec 19, 2005 21:3030220
Iran govt "somewhat" out of touch [78 words]Edward BrophyDec 19, 2005 16:5530211
RE:Iran govt "somewhat" out of touch [89 words]JeffDec 20, 2005 19:2430211

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