you've read it right. freedom with a questionmark.

I want to show you a piece of wikipedia, that you know how mutch of the amendements I know....


first amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

i couldn't find the amendement with the protection from racial part, but I think you know exactely where im talking about.


Think of America as a football match.
Now, disable all rules. No rules during the match.
What will happen? People will cheat, hurt eachoter, make racial comments etc... finnaly this will lead into a fight.

What does that have to do with this? Freedom of speech. TOO FAR!

yes, too far. In America things like HITLER IS GOD!!! are allowed to say. In the Netherlands, you'd go to jail for 20 years. Freedom too far. That's what fuels racism. There have to be rules. And freedom too.

where are we debating about?

Limit the freedom. Not mutch, but racism is not allowed to exist. Being able to say anything, is the cause of extreme-right groups existing in the USA. In the Netherlands, there is as mutch freedom as over there. Only there is a difference between freedom and racism. We just have to make a clear line and punish everything that goes over it.


what do you think?

But MM, if you start to censor what people are allowed to say, where does it end? Whats to stop the goverment silencing those who's voices SHOULD be heard? Who gets to decide what people can and can not say? The president? Doesn't he have bigger fish to fry?

Everyone has the right to voice an opinion, even if you think it's so far out it's insane. Surely we should focus on what people do rather then say.

Well, while I think hate and racism are infectious and destructive, there is a social stigma against racism that is stronger than any law (or lack thereof) presented in the constitution.

I would have a problem if racism were illegalised, I think. In Canada our aboriginal population is widely ridiculed because they get what white society believes is "preferential treatment" due to the terrible things we've done to their ancestors and to them. I think if racism were illegalised here, our Eurasian population would considor the preferential treatment an act of race bias and the aboriginal's funding would be cut. I am one of the few who LIKE that aboriginals get money and stuff, so, that would suck...

As for America? As much as I hate racism, illegalising it would just cause a lot of uproar. It would just tick off a lot of people I think. People would find grounds to illegalise other ideas/opinions based on the illegalisation of racism... illegalising certain religions or political groups, for example.

Racism is just a vast displaced hate because of misunderstanding and lack of empathy. It's just a feeling. It's horrible and disgusting, but again, there is a social stigma against it that for the most part keeps the violence at bay.

Everyone has a right to their own opinion, everyone has a right to voice them out loud.

People get iffed if you call different cultures by a racial name, fights break out, people get hurt some even get killed.

If complete free speech is made illegal then people are going to riot. civil war, mass murder and a huge amount of carnage will be the end product.

It's much like the troubles here in NI.
Once the IRA was decommisioned, a sudden new attraction came about. Just as crime was decreasing, new youths decided, 'to hell with Britain, you can decommision our army but you won't destroy our voice' and suddenly there was a new threat of street gangs. People sticking up for their beliefs became alot more active, just in a less open way.

You try and stop a way of life, the people behind it become alot more active.

Like Amph said racism is an ugly thing, but it would be kind of contradicting (I'm not sure if that's the right word for it) to to censor people's views on race. You're not allowed to say those things about that person because it's racist. So you're going to jail. That would definitely not fly in this country. Even people who aren't racist wouldn't think that's very fair. It's taking away our rights.

Even if this were a matter that would need to be taken care of as Richi said, our President currently has bigger fish to fry (such as the economy).

Making racism would only intensify the KKK (Klu Klutz Klan), or the Skinheads. ESPECIALLY since Obama is President, that would only cause major problems.

Once people are given rights, and those same rights have been around since the country has been a founded they tend to be quite fond of said rights. I mean look what happened after Prop 8, people are still angry about that. And that was a fairly new amendment. Take away the first amendment they took away, and I'm pretty sure the citizens (black, white, Hispanic, Asian doesn't matter) would cause an uproar. I don't know how extreme since this situation would never happen.

Eck, I'm not sure if that makes sense...

I agree with every post with Richi and below.

mariomesser, you say limit freedom bit if it is would you still say that it is freedom? I wouldn't. my father, who was born in Mexico, came to the United States for various reasons....Those basic freedoms being one of them. There is a saying and it goes something like this:

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt.

which means exactly as it is read.... unless it is physically hurting you why bother about it

(this goes for anyone) if you could have or do have (some countries don't) have the freedom of speech and you were told what you can and can not say would you would you get mad? We were given the ability of speech as a way of communication and a way of expressing ourselves.


Yeah racism is a bad thing and I'm sorry that it exists. I'm sorry if this offends anyone but it is completely STUPID that a person gets mad because something just a little racist is said to them. Unless its true why care what people say? I've been called a "beaner" so many times that i actually think its funny. Why? Because I know they can call me whatever they want to. I don't get mad over stupid things like that. I'm sure at one point in there lives everyone has said something a little racist whether they meant to or it just slipped out.

I enjoy my right to say what ever the toss me right round, baby I want, thank you. Besides, while I dont agree with racism, but as long as it doesnt resort to violence it really isnt hurting anyone. Unless it is continuous.

Besides, you really have to refer to the USA's slogan: "If you dont like it here, move"

well, MM, who decides what Racism is? the president? congress? Jesse Jackson?

Everyone will have a different opinion.

And while I hate racism in it's true forms. Illegalizing it would not do any good. The government is already taking our freedoms away one by one, lets not speed it up.

As said a million times, Racism is bad and blah blah blah, we have heard that since we were born. However, MM, you can't start censoring everything like that. The reason why America was founded was because of past governments being to controling about that sort of thing. (Yes I know there are other reasons also so dont get nit-picky with me)

The point is that although we hear a lot about the Rascist or radicals yelling out blasphemy on the news (because it ups their ratings), it doesn't mean thats the only thing thats being said.

Example:
At our state capitol there was a Nazi march/ rally. It had to be allowed due to the first amendment, but because of the first amendment there was also an ANTI-NAZI rally.

Nazi Rally: 80 People
Anti-Nazi Rally: Close to 200 people

Not to mention that there were state troopers and police to "keep the peace" in case either side jumped at each other. So its not like our country (and most of the "Free world") is falling apart because we have to much freedom and it also doesn't mean we have a lot of rascist. If a country falls apart it is typically because of the other way around. Because when you start limiting freedoms, people rise up.

Side note: People like Neo-Nazi's or other radical groups like the KKK or Black Panthers (although not censored) they are watched very very closely by the government just in case they start threatening National Security or cause civil unrest and domestic crimes.

I'd just like to throw in here. People get arrested for hate crimes all the time, hate is a personal feeling and the government have no right intruding on our personal space and tell us its right or wrong to hate certain people. They believe they have the power to tell us what to do. Someone needs to stand up and tell them they are no more important than us.

Freedom isn't free, it's an insurance policy the government use to get themselves out of tight spots and to keep the country happy. But when you dig beneath the top soil your not much more free than the convicted criminals in prison.

I don't agree with anarchy, but i definatly don't agree the government should have as much power as they do.

I think that people should be able to say whatever they want to say, no matter how idiotic it may seem.

in the words of Jessee Vantura (Hope I spelled that right), "You Can't outlaw stupidity"

THIS IS OLD. I NEVER POSTED HERE AGAIN. IF YOU READ THIS, YOU HAVE WASTED YOUR TIME.