03-09-2021, 10:07 AM
(03-09-2021, 06:43 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:(03-09-2021, 12:29 AM)pbrower2a Wrote:(03-08-2021, 05:10 PM)CageyBee Wrote: Americans used to believe in free speech.
We still do. But we recognize that insulting speech, slander, libel, and threats have consequences.
Perhaps with our free speech we prefer a little bit of courtesy and free listening?
True. With free speech comes no right to an audience. If one has a compulsory audience, as with a K-12 teacher, then that privilege comes with a responsibility that significantly clips one's freedom of speech.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.