Self-censorship is censorship. Advocating self-censorship is advocating censorship. [View all]

[riqster]

There seems to be a lot of it going around, on DU and elsewhere. The notion that certain words and phrases, even if legal, should be censored via censure. That people should be pressured to voluntarily cede their first amendment rights so that others might enjoy a greater degree of comfort.

I disagree. The Supreme Court has ruled that even speech as odious as that employed by the Westboro Baptist Church is sacrosanct. That is the law of the land.

Certain people have used "shock speech" for purposes that we may deem good or ill. The KKK used the "n" word to defame and subjugate, and Mel Brooks used it to lampoon racists. Some of my friends say "suck a dick and get fucked in the ass" when referring to their sexual lives, others use it to shock the straights, and some people use those same words as hate speech. Still others use them to make rhetorical points.

Context and the messenger have great weight when a message is decoded. We can not, we must not fall into the trap of isolating words from their contexts when deciding what is acceptable and what is not.

And we most assuredly should not advocate that others censor or be censored, lest we ourselves someday be likewise treated.