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In reply to the discussion: Orlando played host to Muslim speaker’s call for death to gays, just weeks ago [View all]Akicita
(1,196 posts)the establishment and their Oligarch masters and nominated Trump on the republican side. Unfortunately, it was Trump they chose to overthrow their establishment. We very nearly overthrew the establishment and their Oligarch masters on our side as well with Bernie. That was despite the opposition of the corrupt media and the many millions of dollars spent against us. Free speech by many millions of people allowed this near upset on our side and actual victory on the republican side over the Oligarchs despite all their money, power, and press.
Hate speech is often in the eye of the beholder. When slavery was legal here, Southerners looked at the abolitionists opposition to slavery as hate speech against their way of life and would have outlawed it if they could. But free speech rights protected the abolitionists. Free speech allowed the unions and honest reporters to publicize the horrible working conditions of factory workers at the turn of the century. Today, many Christians and Muslims regard LGBT gains to be attacks on their religious freedom, but they cannot silence the LGBT community and their supporters because of freedom of speech. Both sides are allowed to express their views in the court of public opinion and the LGBT side is winning because more and more people are realizing they are right.
Free speech oftentimes protects minorities and allows them to express their views. They have the right to peacefully march and protest to expose injustices and change views.
If you think that government controlled speech will always ban just the speech you oppose and will always support the speech you approve of I think you are sadly mistaken. At least not in this country. Too much of our government is controlled by the rich and powerful and their interests will always come first. They pretend to support minority causes to sow dissension and division in the country and focus our attention on our differences. Meanwhile, as our attention is focused on those things, they are robbing us blind.