13 upvotes, 3 direct replies (showing 3)
View submission: Can we ban this extremely racist asshole?
I agree. I don't like it but it is protected in the constitution. If you ban him then who next? the people that hate McCain(ageist)? And after that? the point of free speech is to protect those you disagree with.
Edit: seeming how I keep getting attacked about this, the Constitution doesn't provide protection in this instance. I know this is true, I was just using it more as a way to show why free speech is important.
Comment by dfranke at 05/06/2008 at 22:09 UTC
14 upvotes, 2 direct replies
This is a privately-owned forum; the wishes of the owner trump the first amendment. Not saying that the guy should be banned, just that the constitution has nothing to do with it.
Comment by ChunkyLaFunga at 07/06/2008 at 10:45 UTC*
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
the point of free speech is to protect those you disagree with.
It is not. The point of free speech is to protect from *organised censorship by a government*. It has and cannot practically have any application outside that definition. The principles of free speech individually and whether an individual or group choose to apply those princples does, but that is a separate issue of *censorship*. It sounds like petty semantics (government versus everyone else) but the difference is immense.
If you owned a shop or some business, you presumably would not want some guy to come in and shout racial epithets at your other customers whenever he felt like it. Presumably you would not tell them to just ignore him and deal with it. It is a little different on the internet of course :) but not so much. Or what if it were your house?
The way it was described to me was like hosting a party. You want everyone to join in and have a good time. But you have to look after your guests as well and if someone is out of line and preventing others from having as good a time, then you have to show them the door. As the owners of a business, that is Reddit's ultimate responsibility. I am disappointed by people's lack of understanding.
Not you, I'm just saying.
Comment by [deleted] at 06/06/2008 at 00:21 UTC
-2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[deleted]