Thursday, September 16, 2010

"We protect expression that we hate"

Before I start, I'd like to apologize because I am both sick and hungover this morning, so please don't expect too much out of me.
In this CNN report, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer says of burning the Qur'an: "We protect expression that we hate. When you have a country of 300 million different people who think different things, it is helpful. It is helpful to tell everyone, 'You can think what you want.'" And I couldn't agree more. An unpopular opinion is an opinion nonetheless and deserves equal protection under the law, no matter how unpopular it may be. Arguably, flag and/or Qur'an burning are actions, which technically are not protected per se by the constitution, but it is my belief that actions have a message, and therefore are speech, a fundamental protection of the government.
Please don't misinterpret that, not all actions necessarily have a message, but so long as it harms no one in the process, or in no way impedes any individual from the God given rights of man, why should our government punish such actions?

17 comments:

  1. Dude, rights are not god given. They are created by men. That's why men, and government, can influence them.

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  2. I agree with most of the part that was stated in this blog, except for the burning of flags and/or Qu'ran. I don't think this should fall under "freedom of speech", and instead be an act of "racism against religion" (not sure if such a thing exists in the USA, but it does here). I still cannot understand why people would do such a thing to begin with, especially when you're in the USA (which I don't believe has a large amount of Muslims, but correct me if I'm wrong). I just don't see the point of it. The only reason I can think of to do such a thing, is to make fun of the Muslims. It would be the same as going back to the, say, 1700's and burning a bible. You would get lynched for that. Now, I don't think that people who burned a Qu'ran should get lynched, don't get me wrong, but to now see Christians doing something like this, seems to be a bit hypocrite to me.

    Anyway, that's my opinion on the subject. Hope you get well soon.

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  3. Burning these books is undeniably a symbol and a message. The act itself can only influence the recipient's opinion. It does no direct damage to a set of beliefs. It does not restrict religious expression. It does not harm to any person. It should remain protected. For so long as we protect this, we protect my freedom to express as well es everyone else's.

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  4. Whether freedom of speech or not, I'd just like to comment on some of the reactions I saw on the news; in anger, scenes of more american flags being burned were shown. I don't understand the mentality behind this; fire fighting fire is just going to make a bigger fire.

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  5. nice

    please remove your word verification

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  6. I agree with all of this. But the people who do these actions are unable to control themselves.

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  7. Personally I find the burning of any books to be medieval.
    But Supporting and following nonetheless :]
    http://www.theramblingsofaboredman.blogspot.com/

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  8. some people get to free with freedom of speech...
    (i'm new here)

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  9. great write up, thanks for sharing

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  10. Voltaire:

    "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

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  11. Thank you for the kind comments on my blog :)

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  12. The guy who quoted Voltaire is right. You've got an interesting point of view...
    supportin' http://thespyisaspy.blogspot.com/

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