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Oct. 1, 2007 In the past couple of weeks, we've been hearing a lot about "free speech." Speech is NOT free. There have always been limits on what one can say with impunity...on what one can say to or about someone else, and on to whom one may impart certain types of speech. For example, it's well-established that one cannot yell "FIRE" in a crowded theater, causing a dangerous panic response. It's likewise well-established that one cannot, with impunity, say publically that Joe Blow is a thief, gay, an embezzler, a murderer or that he is a convicted child molester if Joe is NOT any of those things. Oh, one can SAY those things, but there's a stiff price to pay for doing so. It involves laws against slander and the sanctions society is willing to impose can be draconian. Neither can one speak about national security secrets to the enemies of this country without serious consequences--unless one is an editor, reporter or publisher of the New York Times, apparently. So much for "free speech." One thing that's routinely left out of any free speech talk is the fact that there is nothing in the Constitution (or elsewhere that I know of) that gives one the right to be heard. No one is obligated to provide you a forum from which you can speak what your "free speech rights" allow you. No one is obligated to LISTEN to your "free speech." That's what's wrong with all that "free speech" blather we heard from the President of Columbia University just as he was introducing Mahmoud Iwannajihad, the Iranian Head of State, who, by the way, was invited to speak at Columbia by that same President of Columbia U. He ranted on about Mr. Ahmenijhad's "free speech" rights, but forgot that those rights don't obligate anyone to invite him to speak OR to hear his speech. Likewise, while it might be minor "news" that he spoke there, the media was NOT obligated to film his speech and broadcast it for the whole world to hear. His speech was pretty predictable. Just as he always had, this little twerp talked about how evil Bush is and how the USA is such an "imperial country" under President Bush. The only thing the liberals in the audience were able to discern as a lie was when he claimed that there "are no homosexuals in Iran." That comment elicited laughter in the hall--probably because if there's any group that's more admired by liberals than genocidal, Islamic fundamentalists, its gays. But, the main point is, there was never an obligation for Columbia to give this guy a forum from which to spew his anti-American hatred. The only reason they apparently did invite him was because they share most of his views and wanted their student body to hear them from someone other than those who hold their academic futures under their grading pens. ------------ About the author: David A. Jared is a news junkie, semi-retired and an avid golfer who's been writing his first book, "4000 years of chopsticks" for the last 20 years. Email: jaredland@sbcglobal.net ------------- All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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