> Sam Pawlett wrote:
>
> >Speech is an act and should be treated like all other acts. If certain
> >speech acts cause harm to a certain person or group of persons those
> >persons need protection in the same way that potential victims of
> >physical violence need protection. I would make a distinction between
> >speech that is offensive and speech that is harmful. Speech that offends
> >does not necessarily harm.
doug wrote:
>
> So if a capitalist feels harmed if you or I were to shout
> "Expropriate the expropriators!," should we be prosecuted? I hate to
> invoke a cliche like "slippery slope," but it seems to me we're on
> one here.
>
> Doug
>
Steve wrote:
Only a small correction here Doug, your question should be phrased, "When
a capitalist feels harmed.....?" This happens all the time to unionists. A
friend of mine here in Hawaii at a rally in support of a strike that was
eventually broken (and all striking workers fired) stated, "Hawaii
shouldn't allow sweatshops!"...Now he and other unions are being sued for
'slander.'....
This messing with free speech from the left always has that lovely
boomerang effect of increasing injuries to the left...recall the
disastrous strategy of organizations like "Woman Against Pornography",
which ended up serving the interests of right wing censors and, alas,
gentrifiers....
Steve