1st Amendment Rights: Freedom Of Speech Question

by minimus 18 Replies latest jw friends

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  minimus

  Today I was watching a documentary about a case where 3 people were murdered in a contract killing. The book Hit Man by Paladin Press was used as an instructional guide as to the specifics of planning a murder, the best weapons to use, where a person should stand (3 to 6 feet away from the intended victim) etc. Evidently, this company specializes in books that detail how to dispose of a body, martial art and boxing details to win a fight, espionage and many other topics that most would consider "underground". Evidently, Timothy McVeigh (sp) used the book to plan his killings.

  Having said all that, do YOU think such a publication is allowed under the free speech amendment? Even if you think such a publication is despicable, do you think that the company has a "right" to print such a book?
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  snowbird

  If Bek will indulge my borrowing of her byword, this sums up my feelings on the matter quite succinctly:

  "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

  Sylvia
• 

  villabolo

  Minimus:

  "Evidently, Timothy McVeigh (sp) used the book to plan his killings."

  Which book? The Hit Man or another one?

  villabolo
• 

  minimus

  That doesn't really deal with this book company. It can be said that just because a book contains horrible information, it doesn't mean that the literature is telling you to follow through.

  There are zillions of books on Neo-Nazism. I have read with much interest what their ideologies are however I feel their beliefs are repugnant. Still, I think they have a right to free speech, even though I think they're awful.
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  JWoods

  Cry Fire in a crowded theatre? Inciting criminal behavior i.e. Charles Manson? ANGRY verbal assaults on other people in public?

  Right to speech has long been considered to be quite liberally interpreted in the U.S., particularly speech of a political nature - but it is not absolute.

  It is ironic, though, that a number of liberals in the Obama administration are now considering censoring conservative media - one famous example is the media "diversity czar" Mark Lloyd who has publicly spoken that he admires Marxist Hugo Chavez for greatly terminating opposition media in his country Venezuala.

  Another example would be current Obama media spokesperson Anita Dunn who just this weekend went off on a tirade about Fox News and her dislike of it.
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  minimus

  I think the book was Deadly Brew. Paladin's "how to" books were in his library (McVeigh's).
• 

  JeffT

  The Communist Manifesto has probably killed more people than everything published by Palladin books put together.
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  minimus

  When the case was brought to court by the victim's families, the court originally said the book publishers had the right to publish. An appeals court overturned it. When they were going to go to the higher court, the insurance company, to the chagrin of the publishers, decided to settle for a few million dollars. Evidently, the book can still be found on the internet.
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  minimus

  I agree, Jeff. If this country began to stop publication of every book that most of us would find terribly objectionable, I think it would violate the 1st amendment.
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  cyberjesus

  I think I can say whatever I want to say regardles or who I damage with my sayings..... Well that would be cool if I live alone. But if I share the earth with alot of people I have to be able to respect others.

  So I cant not say whatever I want say if that violates other peoples rights.

  The problem is Who has the right to define those rights? Who can dictate what I can say or not? Then my right to free speech ends where the person moderating that right thinks it should end.

  What a predicament.