re freedom in u s a in article apr virginia edu ab z virginia edu andi beyer writes jaa cunixa cc columbia edu writes dear mr beyer it is never wise to confuse freedom of speech with freedom of racism and violent deragatory it is unfortunate that many fail to understand this crucial distinction in fact if a speach was not offensive to some its protection under freedom of speach laws would be useless it is speach that some find questionable that must be protected be it religiously blasphemous or inherently racist it is only through civilized discourse and not scare tactics that one can enlighten those that one perceives to be ignorant that is the idea behind freedom of expression what you find offensive might be perceived as truth by some and what they might find offensive might be your belief it is only through free exchange of ideas and insults as the case seems to be with this channel that one can change another s erring ways that is why jefferson said that here we are not afraid to tolerate error so long as reason is left to combat it those who forward offensive posts to the sysadmin aren t curtailing anyones freedom of speech the neo nazi movement has a right to make speeches say anything they want they do not have a right to have these speeches published by the n y times that depends on the times analysis of the economic and to somewhat extent newsworthy value of those speeches likewise to the sysadmin of this fellows system if he feels his resources are being used in a manner that is not in his best interests or are perhaps embarassing to his organization he will act just as the new york times does not to be a conduit for these ideas the poster is after all free loading off of someone else s pocket book when he posts he who controls the purse strings has the right to make the decision how he wants those funds spent or not spent noone is going to put the poster in jail unless he bombs a local building as a symbol of his hatred freedom of speech in no way equates to accessibility to conduits of information the market of ideas has its own natural selection process that weeds out the ga ga from the credible ideas that are of importance seth rosenthal disclaimer all opinions are my own not my employers
