And as long as I’m at it… the 1st Amendment…
Reading Kevin’s post about “Free Speech Nonsense” on Slant Truth so soon after posting about PC reminded me. Basically, it’s the same thing he’s saying, but it bears repeating.
Let us be completely clear here: the First Amendment applies to the government, not to private citizens. That is, the government isn’t allowed to censor you, just because you’re, say, criticizing a new policy. I, however, am allowed to delete your comments if you come here and post something I find offensive in the comments.
Let’s say that some asshat who works in the media says something offensive, and people call him on it and demand that he be fired- I know, I’m going out on a limb here, bear with me- what happens?
Someone starts talking about our First Amendment right to free speech and how we’re violating that by asking for the asshat to be fired.
Or, let’s say that you’re an activist blogger, and you discover that scumbag pervs have a forum and are posting horrible, disgusting things about you and other women on your campus, and you call them on it, and ask them to remove the offending posts. Do the admins of said forum remove the offending posts- many of which include photographs and personal information about the women as well as rape threats, and calls to violence?
Hell no.
Instead, we get the battle cry of the common asshat- “We’re just protecting our member’s First Amendment rights!”
Can we put this one down, yet?
1. The FA restricts government actions, not private citizen’s actions.
2. You’re not a hero for refusing to remove posts that threaten people or that post someone’s private information against their will.
3. Lobbying to get someone removed from a position where they’re getting paid and endorsed for saying homphobic/racist/sexist things is not a violation of the FA, so stop saying that it is.
Okay, I think I’ve got it out of my system, now.
