do you think people should have certain speaking rights

[Blight]

I didn't miss the point, that's not the issue here. It's just that it sounded to me like he thinks that being against the pledge of alligence in schools is as bad as thinking murder is okay. I know he used this as an example but it sounded that way to me.

The way it sounded to me was as simple as it is written. He took two ideas completely separate from one another to point out that know matter what you talk about, you should have the knowledge or done enough research to support your clams. The ideas were so abstract from one another for the purpose of illustrating that point.

Now agreeing with him is a whole other tree of fruit. When I first responded to this thread I took it as this being a developed method of speech, kind of like a debate. You come to the table with your little card of topics and you only talk about the issues with in the boundaries of your knowledge. But now I see it is being applied to speech in general, and ANY inhibition on my Bill of Rights is a big no-no. I would never accept a plan that would cripple my ability to express myself. I am really big on personal freedoms and this sort of thing just wouldn?t fly.

There are however gray areas where the lines of free speech can be crossed. Like if a journalist were to report on a big military operation before it happened and the enemy capitalized on it and a bunch of our soldiers ended up dead. I would be in great support of the Government capping any SOB that would knowingly put other people at risk of being killed to sell a news story.

If anyone is thinking, ?But what about your other statement about accepting free speech? The one about having to racist people have their say.? Well, they can have their say, but they will also have to deal with the consequences of their actions. People look at them as ignorant, bottom-feeding lowlifes. There are many things you have a right to do, but there will always be a penalty for any unacceptable actions (although an very poignant argument can be made that ?moral consequence? is some thing few people give a damn about anymore).