M-TH: Analyzing Neoli

[Maria Gilmore]

Absolutely.  One of the biggest, silent problems in our society is the shrinkage
of "public space", where the rights of freedom of speech and assembly can be
exercised in public view.  Instead now we as a populace spend more and more of
the time in privately-owned commercial space, like malls, which actively
discourage any speech, activity, etc that might have a negative impact on their
commerce...such as customers
being exposed to political expression they might find distressing.  Being
private property, malls are able to openly regulate lots of behavior that you
couldn't in a truly public setting:  speech, language, dress, special rules
based on age.

All malls are very security-minded, for lots of reasons, but especially for this
one,
according to my reading:  it is crucial that a mall be perceived as a secure
environment for women, because women are *the* most important consumers in
our society.   Order is very important to the bottom line.

JKSCHW at aol.com wrote:


> In a message dated 98-12-13 06:41:19 EST, you write:
>
> << The argument:  Some animal rights types have been told to shut up about
>  their cause by the owners of the mall within which they were demonstrating.
>
>
>  The demonstrators counter that shopping mall's are simply the latter-day
>  version of the market-place, a place dedicated to the gathering of citizens
>  as members of civil society, and just about the only such public space left
>  - so the First Amendment applies.
>
>  The owner's response?  'It's MY mall, so there!'.
>   >>
>
> As matter of law, he's right. I wouldn't count on the current US Supremes to
> change that. The Minnesota Supremes might be a different story. Or the
> Minnesota legislature.
>
> --jks