Where Are Those Who Claim To Protect Free Speach??

First off, I do not use, never have used in an offensive manor and do not condone any one to use the N word in a racist manor.. how ever it is my personal belief that because a word insults you or hurts your feelings, it is still protected by the right of free speech.

[url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/27/michaelrichards.ap/index.html]http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/27/michaelrichards.ap/index.html[/ur l]

In this CNN article, it talks about Jesse Jackson asking TV producers and such not to use the N word in their programs, even by blacks. That is great, no one should say it, especially in a derogatory manor.. however..

Asked about free-speech issues, Jackson said the word is "unprotected."

Is this man to decide what word is "protected" and "unprotected"? Did we all vote and say he had the right to make such a choice?

You might say that Jackson can say whatever he wants he cannot enforce anything... think again. How many times has Jackson taken it upon himself to jump into a racial debate or case and give it allll kinds of publicity, usually resulting in the immediate guilty verdict of who ever happened to be at fault.

Will the same people who declare that the government is stripping of us of our rights say the same thing about politically charged comments like that?

I believe in free speech down to the very tips of my toes. But I do think that the kind of speech that engenders racism or hatred, so-called "hate speech" is wrong. I'm not sure if it should be illegal, but it is at least in very poor taste for anyone to use derogatory terms for another person or group of persons.

Number one, in any context where it does not constitute disturbing the peace, the N word, however disgusting it may be, is protected. There aren't any "unprotected" words, only words that are often used outside of their constitutionally protected (non-violent) context.

The problem with the N-word isn't the word itself, and therefore will not be solved if the N-word is made to go away. The N-word is only a symptom.

We choose offensive words for their power to disparage and inflict emotional pain. The N-word continues to be used because our society is not yet fully unified in the understanding that there is nothing negative about being black.

Why is it that "cracker", "WOP", "mick", etc don't quite have the same megatonnage as the Nword? Why did I just say "cracker" but abbreviate the Nword?

Because this country doesn't have a problem with white people. This country associates nothing bad with being white. It's not disparaging enough to be as bad a N-.

Banning the N-word would only blind us to our problem. We won't be out of the woods until its mostly OK to say it (like WOP, mick, etc) but yet nobody uses it anyway. If the word becomes so obsolete because of our social atmosphere that your teenage great grandson hears the word for the first time in a movie about the 20th century and doesn't understand why that was the insult of choice, then we've made it.

Very well put Vagabond.

And like Forestlady said, no one should use a derogatory term to another human being simply because it is bad taste. Hence why we frown upon it here on ATS, and not just the N word, but the F word, the S word, the B word, D word, and any other derogatory word used to insult, punish, demean, hurt and other wise tarnish another member of our community.

And while it is frowned upon on a private site, on the national level where the context of the law is no longer a rule of participation but the rights of the individual it is free speech and cannot be punished. It is your right to insult, demean, tarnish and or destroy another member of society with words, you are however to expect the returning consequences, but not from the law. Call some one a faggot and he might hit you, call a black man down the street a N and I am sure you will have more then one problem on your hands.

It is not the governments place to intervene in our personal conversations or with our arguments. It simply is not what the government was created for. While it may be mean, and no matter how much it pains you to have someone insult you.. you just can't run to a judge. And no one ESPECIALLY an unelected official can BAN a word. In fact, even if he was a government official, even if he was a judge, even if he was the president of the United States... he cannot create a blacklist of words that society can no longer use.