"Free Speech Zones" - 1st Ammendment?

Something doesn't seem right about those "free speech zones," but then again protesters shouldn't be showing up at funerals anyway. The dead should be respected, not draw a protest.

At conventions, if there are dissenting views, they should be heard at the conventions themselves provided that they can be civil about it. Taking public safety into account, it's the individuals that can't be civil about their views of dissension that ruin it for everybody else.

quote Misty

Oh no, the "free speech zones" aren't present at funerals (by my understanding anyway). Those protests are 100% protected under the 1st amendment because they don't apparently violate the provisions of non-obscenity and don't pose an active threat to anyone. It's apparently the protests of the conventions that did potentially pose a threat, though, and warranted the free speech zones. I guess thanking God for IEDs and for the deaths of soldiers isn't an active threat?

Well, to defend the WBC is that, yeah, thanking God that people are dying isn't an active threat. You can hope someone dies all you want. I can rant about how I hope that the old fart that runs it dies, but if I threatened him directly like saying "I'm going to kill you", then I would be actively threatening". Thanking God is along the same lines, at the end of the day. yeah it's nasty and mean, and an awful thing to say, but it's not a threat. The problem with banning what they're saying, or saying they can't protest, is that it would be a dangerous precedent. They really aren't physically hurting someone with their words, although I'm sure they're emotionally. But you can't really ban things because it hurts peoples feelings, that would pretty much devolve into censorship.

However the free speech zones is pretty ridiculous. What they should do is set them up, but not make them mandatory. I think it would be more for the people having a dissenting view's safety, then. if they wanted to risk it going into a crowd that is against them, then so be it. Basically, the idea is a sound one, but executed poorly. It should be a safe place to practice your first amendment rights, not the only place.

im from the uk wheres the no 1st ammendment so people who protest at funerals uselly get the kicking they deserve

quote Misty

quote bronze0800

im from the uk wheres the no 1st ammendment so people who protest at funerals uselly get the kicking they deserve

Out of curiousity, who do they get kicked out by? The police, or those at the funeral? I'm legitimately curious, I don't know much about the UK's law enforcement/legal system when it comes to those sort of things.

uselly the general public jus punch a few times and kick them when people aint looking (he slipped on the road officer ) lol

quote D I O S

Not that America has truly free speech anyway, you've still got a man locked up illegally for releasing documents about government corruption, the actual reason for 'free speech'.

Oh but that was for an unrelated reason to his leaks....right?

A lot of our freedoms are under threat though, really. US citizens can be detained without our "right" to a fair and speedy trial potentially indefinitely, and detained in prisons outside the US. And let's not forget the whole waterboarding argument, but we don't do cruel or unusual punishment right? Free speech zones just add to that, really. One more way our so-called freedoms are infringed upon.

quote Misty

Oh no, the "free speech zones" aren't present at funerals (by my understanding anyway). Those protests are 100% protected under the 1st amendment because they don't apparently violate the provisions of non-obscenity and don't pose an active threat to anyone. It's apparently the protests of the conventions that did potentially pose a threat, though, and warranted the free speech zones. I guess thanking God for IEDs and for the deaths of soldiers isn't an active threat?

Yeah, compare a protest at a political convention to a protest...or should I say RIOT at the Westboro Baptist Church "get togethers". Just go on youtube and see it for yourself. I even saw someone throw a cinder block through their van window as they were rushed out of the area while being followed by a mob of people. Do you ever see that at a political convention?

What are you going to hear at a political convention, people booing Obama or Romney? God forbid. But when there's practically a cult going around slandering our countries name and insulting damn near EVERYONE, provoking pure madness and deliberately causing people pain, suffering and anger, that's fine. If ANYONE ELSE said some of the things these people said, they would be perceived as a terrorist and thrown into Guantanamo Bay.

Your country should add one amendment to that clause in your constitution that excludes hate speech being protected. I'd have no idea how you would word it so that genuine criticism/banter don't get thrown in at the same time though.