WBC to picket boston marathon funerals

[maxpower]

After reading what I just wrote, I realize that the devil's advocate counter-argument would say that even though the WBC's right to free speech wasn't being abridged by the government, it should have been protected by the government against the angry mob. So, I'm not really sure what the real answer is to the question.

[hippifried]

Apparently the citizens of Boston took their own action by forming a human chain which prevented the WBC from even getting out of their van. Well done.



But wasn't that in fact a breach of their right to free speech? Serious question.

No. There's no such thing as impunity. Not legally or morally. The 1st Amendment is actually irrelevant here because it just restricts the power of government, & rights aren't a government grant in the first place. The members of the WBC can whine about their free speech all they want, but those in the "angry mob" have freedom of speech too. There's no special pass just because you're an asshole. You can get on a soap box, but nobody can be compelled to listen, & anybody else is free to tell you to shut the fuck up or shout you down.

There's no such thing as impunity!

[Prospero]

Reminds me of a Woody Allen movie where people are debating whether to go protest against American Nazis marching through a Jewish community in New jersey (based on a real life march in Skokie Illinois.)

http://www.wavsource.com/snds_2013-0...ttan/nazis.wav

Woody Allen: "Has anybody read that Nazis are gonna march in New Jersey? Ya know? I read it in the newspaper. We should go down there, get some guys together, ya know, get some bricks and baseball bats, and really explain things to 'em."
Victor Truro: "There was this devastating satirical piece on that on the op-ed page of the Times – devastating."
Allen: "Whoa, whoa. A satirical piece in the Times is one thing, but bricks and baseball bats really gets right to the point of it."
Helen Hanft: "Oh, but really biting satire is always better than physical force."
Allen: "No, physical force is always better with Nazis."

[Jericho]

The best way to deal with them is to laugh at them!

[mistab]

RIP Krystle Campbell...

http://boston.com/metrodesk/2013/04/...CgP/story.html

http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/37428