Terrorists Will Never Limit Our Free Speech, But Government Can

[marmar]

from the American Prospect:


Terrorists Will Never Limit Our Free Speech, But Government Can
JOSHUA HOLLAND JANUARY 14, 2015

“Lone wolf” nutjobs and small bands of extremists can't threaten our values, but our own institutions can.

Terrorists can't limit our speech. They can murder and maim, and cause widespread panic, but they don't have the capacity to threaten to our democratic values. They never have, and they never will.

The real threat is that we might voluntarily surrender some of our rights in order to defend ourselves against terrorism. In that sense, suggesting that a handful of bloodthirsty wackos have the capacity to prevent us from drawing offensive cartoons or mocking a religion gives them far more power than they actually posses.

It's true that armed extremists can shape the way society operates in fragile or failed states, where they can sometimes wield something approaching real institutional power. That's evident in countries from Nigeria to Afghanistan. But terrorism has never had an enduring impact on our way of life in the developed world; extremists have never influenced how countries with functional courts and adequate security infrastructure go about their business.

.......(snip).......

“Lone wolf” nutjobs and small bands of extremists can't threaten our values, but our own institutions can. They wield real power. History is riddled with examples, but you don't need to look further than the policies of torture, detention without trial and domestic surveillance adopted by the U.S. government following the 9/11 attacks. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://prospect.org/article/terrorists-will-never-limit-our-free-speech-government-can

[woo me with science]

1. K&R We live in a manipulative, malignant, authoritarian propaganda state now,

and now they have us "debating" whether we really need our freedom of speech anymore.

Don't entertain this garbage.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022981567

[Fred Sanders]

2. The French arrested a comedian for a three word Facebook post, why no outrage about that?

Do Americans agree with the arrest?

[oberliner]

3. You can ridicule the prophet, but you cannot incite hatred toward his followers.

Individuals are protected, but churches and their doctrines are not.