July 26, 2004
SAY IT OVER THERE
Kevin of Wizbang has pictures of people acting foolishly in the Democratic National Convention "free speech zone."
Me, I'm torn on "free speech zones". There's reasonable security issues vs. the right to peaceful assembly. Good arguments on both sides.
On the other hand, I can speechify quite freely from behind my keyboard, so I don't feel oppressed or restricted at all.
So... what DOES the Constitution say about the right to make a public spectacle of yourself?
The Constitution guarantees the right "peaceably to assemble," so as long as they're "peaceful..."
I wonder where that line is being drawn here.
I read a story yesterday about how the Anti-war group started beating up on the anti-abortion group in the commons (park) yesterday.
I thought it was kind of funny in a weird way.
I am bothered by free speech zones. People should be protected, but that doesn't mean relegating speech to one place.
I think that only allowing folks speak from certain places is very clearly a restriction on rights of free expression. I mean, confinement is pretty obviously not freedom.
They weren't confined... they could have turned around and left any time they wanted to.














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