My question today is, do we have the right of free speech, or is our speech only free when it is approved by others?
Let's say you work for the State, and some people who are in your charge make what you feel are "derogatory, insulting, or perhaps, libelous" comments about you, but, they make those comments on their own time and away from the work environment. Does your boss, (the State) then have the right to punish those people for the remarks they've made about you while not at work? (i hope it's not a poor analogy)
With the insanely rapid growth of places like Facebook, Utube, and other online places people go to get attention, this seems to be a growing problem that will have to be dealt with at some time. Will someones freedom have to be sacrificed or curtailed to find a solution, and if so, who's freedom will it be?
http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story/Facebook-page-punishment-spurs-debate/1gnyLiP1c0K7HQ2vVmHQYg.cspx?rss=112
3 comments:
schools should be teaching freedom of speech not punishing it....if a student says some libelous about a teacher, it should be treated no different than if the student said the same thing about a non-teacher.
The teacher has legal recourse in the courts, if he fells his was libeled then he can file suit and prove his case before a judge.
Schools that claim censorship & punishment rights over students are playing beyond the law
All I had to read was the 1st paragraph. Here's my thought, and I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV. But liable law, as I understand it from reading, is pretty cut and dry.
The employer, regardless of the business, has NO right to prosecute anyone, for anything said about "X" employee, unless the employers "product" is also questioned. In that case, the employer can sue for liable, for things said that are FALSE about the product. Said employer CANNOT sue for failures of the product that are factual.
If the employee wants to sue for uttered wrongs, it is said employees right to do so.
To me, this whole, Empowered School System thing is WAY overblown. Someone needs to push one of these things to SCOTUS, to get a definition once and for all. Having said that, every parent, of every child with access to a GD keyboard needs to press home the internet as tool and sharp edged weapon.
They need to understand that writing anything on the internet at 3 AM, is the same as spray painting it on the front of the J. Edgar Hoover Bldg, at noon on a sunny day. You can't deny you did it, just because you said so. It's all too easy to get caught. And IF they get caught, I think whomever it is, should be prosecuted with the limits of current liable law, and we DO NOT need new laws.
As to selective freedom, freedom has to be reaffirmed sometimes. This is a good situation for a test. Not this instance perhaps, but the whole idea of throttling Facebook or other social networking sites free speech aspect, because the Principal of Che Guevara Jr HS says so. Who the hell is HE / SHE when compared against the Bill of Rights?
Steve, i agree with your argument that parents are responsible (or should be) for teaching their kids right from wrong. Parents, not some EduNazi political hack. But in this case, i believe the problem goes much deeper, and it's not the first time we've seen it. Some of these school "authorities" create their own kingdoms, and don't believe they have to answer to anyone. That is, until the lawyers show up. That's when the back peddling starts, which tells you they knew they were wrong to start with.
But you're right. This type of problem, especially since it's growing larger each day, requires a solution from the SCOTUS.
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