Slate: That useless 1st Amendment needs to change
Mr Wolf sends us a link to Ace of Spades who links to Slate, whose Eric Posner who belittles Americans for clinging bitterly to that pesky 1st Amendment thingie;
Americans need to learn that the rest of the world—and not just Muslims—see no sense in the First Amendment. Even other Western nations take a more circumspect position on freedom of expression than we do, realizing that often free speech must yield to other values and the need for order.
Unlike Mr Posner, I’ve lived in parts of the world where the freedom to speak one’s mind isn’t as protected as it is in this country, and it’s not so pleasant. But, then, I was in those places to defend Mr Posner’s right to have an idiot opinion in the safety of his home, so maybe I’m a little more sensitive to idiot opinions like Mr Posner’s.
Funny how the Left is always the first to complain about the their perceived loss of their free speech rights, until now when it’s inconvenient and makes us look foolish to the rest of the world. I don’t know about Mr Posner’s antecedents, but mine came here to enjoy the freedoms from the very same countries that Posner claims are ridiculing us for our freedoms.
Remember Mark Steyn’s problems in Canada when he crossed the government’s sensibilities by criticizing islam? Or Bridgette Bardot’s 30,000 franc fines by the French government when she criticized the ritual slaughter of sheep by Muslims in France in her book “Le Carré de Pluton”? Are we willing to surrender our freedoms in the same manner just because the rest of the world doesn’t like it or thinks it’s silly?
Category: Liberals suck
Eric Posner is entitled to his opinion – and, under that 1st Amendment he finds less than useful, he’s allowed to express it.
As am I. And my opinion is that Eric Posner can go fornicate himself.
FTW
“Americans need to learn that the rest of the world—and not just Muslims—see no sense in the First Amendment.”
And Mr Posner needs to learn I can’t make myself give two shits whether they see sense in it or not.
Would Eric’s doing that fall under the classification “Daily Goat”, Hondo?
No problem, if thats the way he wants it. Mr. Posner and Slate are no longer to express their opinion, the NYT, WaPo, NBC,CBS,ABC are no longer able to to say a blessed thing. All left leaning trash is now banned.
Coddle the armed retarded children of the world. Much more important than our freedom.
Man. I went to that slate article and, frankly, some of the commentors were down right amazing.
All this time I thought you had to have a certain degree of intelligence to be able to use a keyboard. Imagine my surprise when I found out after all this time that my psychology teachers lied to me.
Why doesn’t the government just shut down slate and jail the people responsible for the content?
Is this Posner the illegitimate son of comrade obammy?
How about if some ex-KGB guys pound on his door in the middle of the night, and drag him out of his warm little bed, screaming at the top of his lungs, then ship him off to a gulag some place nasty where it gets seriously cold in the wintertime?
I hear Siberia is beautiful in the summertime, but not so much in the winter. I’ll be we could call up Vlad Putin and ask him for a little help.
Dobraota, tovarish Vlad. Da, spasiba.
Some defender of free speech you are.
The eternal problem with Posner’s sentiment is that any diminishing of free speech lends itself to further abrigment. The ball rolls down a bottomless hill, changing direction from left to right at the whim of this or that Congress and Chief Executive. But such sentiment as Posner expresses is quite in step with the one-world, one-size-fits-all internationalist movement, led, presently, by Barack Hussein Obama. Recall his statements and those of his wife regarding the changes he would effect. Then, look at what he has done and failed to do. America, to them, is not special, not unique, and certainly not better than any other nation. I fear there may be revolution yet. It all depends on November’s outcomes.
A-B-R-I-D-G-M-E-N-T. Arrrgghhh.
Maybe we could get a witch doctor to resurrect Joe McCarthy from his grave? Or Edward R. Murrow? Or both of them?
Wouldn’t that be a hoot?
Eric the Retard seems to forget that the 1st Amendment, like the others, does NOT grant us anything. The entire “Bill of Rights” is a partial listing of those rights which belong to every citizen, and are granted to us by our Creator. They cannot be taken away from us, as they would exist whether there was any government or not. The “Bill of Rights” is a warning to the government to keep it’s hands OFF of these rights, and not to interfere with them.
If it weren’t for freedom of speech, people at the Dept. of Defense would not be able to write useless, unintelligible memos.
Think about it for a minute. 🙂
Well said, AW1, well said.
@11
He was probably afraid of getting into trouble for copyright infringement, since you didn’t properly source whatever copy of Penthouse you lifted that Forum letter from.
Him first. Lead by example. Except that elitist POS’s like Posner always want the Gubbment to apply the rules and laws to apply to thee, but not for he.
This is the same attitude that Obama, Biden, Reid, Pelosi, Clinton, and their ilk, present when they talk about taxing the rich, WHEN THEY’RE THE VERY EPITOME OF WEALTHY. THEIR HYPOCRICY KNOWS NO BOUNDS.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Yeah Shinto. The 1st Amendment protects your speech from the government. Not from me.
Someone sanity check me: Are we or are we not constantly being lectured about blaming a large group of people for the actions of a few . ie. All Muslims for the actions of some crazies. Yet these very same people want to blame all American because some idiot made a video?
Or is this more of the we don’t have to practice what we preach type of thing…
-Ish
Isnala, get with the program!
The video was/is Bo’s excuse.
No one has believed that for going on two weeks now. No one, that is, except Bo.
The rest of the world doesn’t hate the United States as much as the political left in the US would have you believe. The American left claim to speak for “all the other countries” in exactly the same way that they claim to speak for “all of the women,” “all of the poor people,” and “all of the black people.” It is nothing more than a rhetorical trick to get people to give weight to the speaker’s personal opinions and prejudices, although some of the people using this technique may be sufficiently stupid or intellectually dishonest to actually believe that they represent these groups.
To specifically address the article’s assertion; it’s complete bollocks. Most people in Britain don’t know what the First Amendment is let alone have an opinion on it. No one in Britain however, except for our own left wing extremists, would support the government suppressing speech in the way that the author of the article suggests. This consensus is reflected both in our history and our laws, specifically the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006. (Section 29J of the added Part 3A.)
Where there is genuine antipathy for the USA, at least here in the UK, a lot (but not all,) of it has been manufactured by the American left and exported overseas by the US media or by US citizens coming here and bringing that manufactured anti-Americanism with them. So the American left is presenting itself as the solution to a problem that it is largely responsible for.
All of this is frustrating to me as a Scot because it is a misrepresentation of my beliefs. I DON’T hate the USA and I don’t want Americans to think that I do. While there are things about the USA that I despise there are many more things about your country that I love, the first of which is your holding aloft the flames of freedom with which to light the world.
Why is it these assclowns never recognize the irony in their own words and deeds?
Some of the comments on their site nailed it, the guy’s fishing for hits on his page either way. Unless he’s pants on head, running down the street naked levels of stupid. Either way I agree with the post above about paying a few ex-KGB guys to drag him out in the street and pull and Oldboy on him.
Ever notice it’s always the other person’s free speech that is abusive and needs to be curbed? No one ever writes articles saying “I should be thrown in jail for saying this but…”. (I do disagree with the Supremes that lying is covered in that, because if it was why have libel and slander laws? but hey, what do I know?)
I don’t agree with Posner, and I think he’s a couple of eggs shy of a dozen, but I would never condone outlawing his ability to spew stupidity.
Hey Kenneth! Drink a Tennent’s for me!
I never understand why people like him can’t grasp that the boats and planes that come to this country work both ways. Within 24 hours, he could be in his more ideal country and emailing his articles back here.
I have offered to buy a ticket to many people to take a free one way trip to their ideal utopias (usually Cuba). Not a single one has ever accepted.
Jonn…I simply find it amazing that those who say such things clearly have no understanding of what it means…And, apparently the C–I-C doesn’t have a clue either since, in his UN speech yesterday he chastised the rest of the world for not understanding free speech and the Muslims,and the we should protect Freedom of Speech everywhere, even as his DOJ sought to arrest “that fllm maker” who “offended” others!! I mean, are you fucking kidding me?
Did they freeze dry Joe McCarthy, thaw him out, and then rename him Eric Posner?
Wait….you mean Slate is a real site? I thought it was a sister site to the Onion…all this time I’ve been reading those Slate articles and thinking they were parodies….damn I feel silly now…
Yeah. What Tim said.
And thank you, Kenneth.
Sounds like Posner wants a dominatrix to spank him for being a potty mouth.
defendUSA: in point of fairness, DOJ is investigating the idiot filmmaker for parole violation, not for making the film. He is currently on Federal probation – and if I recall correctly, that fraud involved using electronic means. One of his conditions of parole was that he not access the Internet without his parole officer’s approval. It appears he may have done exactly that in order to post the film trailer that’s gotten everyone in the Islamic world so “hot and bothered” recently.
Parole violation not withstanding, it took you to tell me that the information I got should stand corrected. We were led to believe it was an act by our FBI against freedom of expression. That which, in my humble opinion, is just what Obama wanted as he continues to deny that it was a terrorist attack and insists the film that caused the deaths of Stevens and the others. The blatant hypocrisy, lack of truth and respect for the laws of our land by this admin continue to astound me.
Giuliani was on CNN this morning, discussing Bo’s behavior. They did, at least, listen to him. He made it clear that there is a lack of any real policy on Iran and nukes, more like a gray line, and no idea if the WH will or won’t use military force, should there be any kind of aggressive action by Iran.
Michele Flournoy was also interviewed. She was an advisor to SecDef until she left the Pentagon in 2012. She said there has been nothing specific from the WH about a policy toward Iran on nukes. They listened to her, too.
Then Karen House, author of “On Saudi Arabia”, was also interviewed and said specifically that we are neither respected nor feared in the Middle East.
Then those reporters said (and I have to give them credit for actually saying the following) that the press is giving Bo a pass on his comments because it’s an election year, that he’s passing the buck, hiding behind other people’s actions.
It was the last thing I expected from CNN, which has seemed to be less biased lately, so I was a little surprised, but this is the network which published portions of Amb. Stephens’ journal, which indicated he expected an attaack on the Benghazi embassy.
So now you have to ask — any reasonable person would — just how long will the crap-spouting from the WH continue and expect it to be believed?
The first debate is the first week in October.
@30 – Twist, I think Joe McCarthy would be going after Bo in the WH for the crap he’s been trying to get away with.
defendUSA: at a minimum, both Fox and CNN reported that fact 11 days ago – when the guy was first brought in for questioning by Federal authorities.
This is as good a place as any for this article:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/26/14112808-no-fix-for-jesus-rifles-deploying-to-afghanistan?lite