# Un-American and freedom of speech - explain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 15, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399 "2004-06-15T00:34:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![litost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@litost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/litost)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/21 "2004-06-15T22:39:39Z")
FYI, India has a written constitution which talks of freedom of speech. [http://www.constitution.org/cons/india/const.html](http://www.constitution.org/cons/india/const.html) I came across this link which provides links to constitutions. That’s a long list of countries with some documentation or other. I don’t have the time to access the links though. [http://confinder.richmond.edu/](http://confinder.richmond.edu/) ---
**Author:** ![litost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@litost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/litost)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/22 "2004-06-15T22:42:16Z")
Here’s New Zealand’s Bill of Rights Act (1990). Was there any media coverage of this? It looks like some of the unwritten but assumed rights have been enumerated. [http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/nz01000\_.html](http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/nz01000_.html) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/23 "2004-06-16T00:39:58Z")
Moving this to Great Debates. ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/24 "2004-06-16T00:56:17Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > People on _both_ sides of the political aisle in America also don’t call each other unpatriotic; So far, it has been a one-way street with the leftists doing the name calling. … _thud_ _climbs back into his chair from the floor_ What? Have you finally gone and lost your last marble? ---
**Author:** ![kennybath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e68b1a/32.png) [@kennybath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kennybath)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/25 "2004-06-16T01:17:19Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > It basically really started taking off in the 1980s. Several things contributed. The Reaganites of course. The greatly increased power of corporations in the US government. (They always had significant control, but tried not to be too overt about it. Now, they just do what they want and Congress immediately obeys.) And the key part of the horror story: major regulatory changes to key US media laws. The “equal time” rule was revoked. (Sorry liberals, these airwaves aren’t for you anymore.) Limits on media ownership were revoked. (So a small number of extreme right-wing people control most of the US media. I mean _extreme_ right-wing.) > > During the 1980s and 1990s they worked out the basics of what works in political campaigns. E.g., negative ads, no matter how filled with lies, _always_ work. Always promise a tax cut, less government, more spending and a balanced budget, regardless of how nonsensical that is. And (getting back to the OP), paint your opponent as: > > A classic recent example is Saxby’s campaign against Sen. Max Cleland. Cleland is a triple amputee Vietnam Vet. Saxby therefore called him a coward, anti-GI, and actually had a TV ad that showed Osama and Cleland side-by-side. Cleland lost. Saxby is now cosponsoring the “fair taxes” bill. A complete overturning of the US tax system. Which **amazingly** increases the taxes of the poor and middle class by huge amounts while letting the rich off almost completely. And the media _loves_ it. They can’t promote the idea enough. It’s just great! > . Liberals aren’t allowed in the media? You can’t believe that can you? Liberals owned the media and still do for the most part. AM radio is conservative but what is preventing liberals from buying a station? Nothing. I live in Georgia and don’t remember Chambliss calling Cleland a coward. So I’m calling you a liar. Chambliss never would have been elected had he done that. What he did do is say that he had different opinions on many things than Cleland, some of which were defense related. Is that not a legitimate issue ina campaign? What are campaigns supposed to be about then? Is no one allowed to disagree with Cleland because of his amputee status? Are the Republicans even allowed to field a candidate? If they do field a candidate aren’t they in effect saying that they could do a better job? Isn’t that questioning the opposition’s (in this case a triple amputee’s) patriotism? Well, we can’t have that! Chambliss did have an ad where he showed a picture of his opponent and then talked about the challenges we face and showed a picture of Saddam Hussein, I think it was. At no point did he infer that Cleland was a) unpatriotic b) cowardly c) Pro-Saddam. He said that given the terrorism we face we need a strong homeland security dept. instead of one dominated by labor unions. It’s a legimate point. Agree or disagree but he didn’t call Cleland any of the things you said. It’s become an urban legend that the Republicans accused Cleland of “not being patriotic”. It’s gibberish. ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/26 "2004-06-16T01:19:36Z")
> [@kennybath](#): > > Liberals aren’t allowed in the media? You can’t believe that can you? Liberals owned the media and still do for the most part. AM radio is conservative but what is preventing liberals from buying a station? Nothing. It’s like time travelling back into 1991… ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/27 "2004-06-16T01:39:27Z")
> [@MelCthefirst](#): > > We assume our rights, we aren’t taught them in school and the media doesn’t pay particular attention to them. Ah, I get it now. This is just another boneheaded “Americans are stupid, ignorant assholes (or arseholes, depending), and they have absolutely no idea of what’s going on outside their borders” thread, right? **Czarcasm** screwed up, because he should have sent this to the Pit. Since he didn’t, I’ll excercise some decorum. [ul][li] **MelCthefirst** is an ignorant moron.[/li] [li] I have no idea why anyone outside of the the continental U.S. would care about the rhetoric tossed around in a Presidential election year.[/li] [li] For the eleventy-thousandth time, we aren’t talking about you, we aren’t worrying about you, and there is absolutely no implied criticism of your country, whichever one it is. The Canadians figured this out a long time ago. Why can’t you?[/li] [li] In keeping with my last point, most Americans spend about 99.99% of their time not giving much of a crap about what goes on in New Zealand.[/ul][/li] Honestly, **Mel** , what in hell is your problem? You seem to have a real hard-on for the US, and I just can’t figure out why. You’re obviously happy where you are, and we seem to be happy where we are. I don’t see any need for the vitriol. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/28 "2004-06-16T01:56:51Z")
> [@litost](#): > > Here’s New Zealand’s Bill of Rights Act (1990). Was there any media coverage of this? It looks like some of the unwritten but assumed rights have been enumerated. > > [http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/nz01000\_.html](http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/nz01000_.html) _“…how come every time I want to talk about my bill of rights, Mickey Mouse appears!!!” (sketch from NZ comedy show, either McPhail and Gadsby, or Issues, funniest sketch ever!)_ …yeah, there was a lot of debate about it at the time. But the Bill of Rights Act is only fourteen years old, it doesn’t hold the same emotional weight that the American constitution holds. Most New Zealanders hold the Treaty of Waitangi as our founding document… [http://www.govt.nz/en/aboutnz/?id=a32f7d70e71e9632aad1016cb343f900](http://www.govt.nz/en/aboutnz/?id=a32f7d70e71e9632aad1016cb343f900) …but we do not view it as our constitution… ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/29 "2004-06-16T02:08:11Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Limits on media ownership were revoked. (So a small number of extreme right-wing people control most of the US media. I mean _extreme_ right-wing.) Cite? > [@](#): > > The “label it backwards” take is everywhere. > Can’t force others to adopt your religion? Claim it’s an attack on your religion. > Someone points out that you’re denying others their right to speak? Claim it’s an attack on your free speech. > Trying to undermine the Constitution? Claim everyone that disagrees with you is UnAmerican. (How Michael Moore can possibly be viewed as UnAmerican in beyond me.) > > Note that the scariest people are the ones determined to die to protect “their freedoms”. The type of gun nuts that make the NRA nervous. They define “their freedoms” as being rid of anyone they don’t like. Uh-oh. > > A number of people are seeing a very disturbing trend where the whole “logic” layout of “disagrees with me = treason = death penalty” has been nearly complete in the eyes of the more gullible Americans. There are more than a few people who see a Civil War coming to the US. “You think birth control should be legal? Sorry, but we’ll have to kill you now.” This comes from [both](http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/27/politics/27LANG.html?ex=1087444800&en=2cc1d9f2d10e1680&ei=5070&ex=1086062400&en=1c320e58fc23b0c8&ei=5070) [sides](http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/8884544.htm?1c), not just the right, and the extremes of both sides want to eliminate the opposition. > [@](#): > > In the article, reporter James G. Lakely distorted statements from critics of the Bush administration, making them appear far worse than they actually were. > > For instance, he stated that Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts attacked Bush as "a man who… is ‘putting our troops at greater risk.’ " However, Kerry actually said, “I believe I can lead us out of Iraq effectively by accomplishing goals we need to accomplish but without putting our troops at greater risk” - hardly the direct attack on the President that Lakely implied. > > The article later stated that former Vice President Al Gore accused Bush "of having ‘betrayed’ his country (and) of being guilty of ‘war crimes’ " during a recent speech sponsored by the [MoveOn.org](http://MoveOn.org) PAC. Gore’s first statement was actually far less direct: “I want to speak on behalf of those Americans who feel that President Bush has betrayed our nation’s trust.” Betraying people’s trust is very different from betraying “his country,” phrasing that comes close to an accusation of treason. > > … > > ‘Extermination,’ ‘Taliban’ slurs are a new toxic low for liberals One of the nastiest accusations in post-Sept. 11 political debate has come from Democrats and liberals who denounce the so-called “Taliban wing of the Republican Party,” smearing conservatives as analogous to the barbarous regime that previously ruled Afghanistan. This catchphrase came into wide use following the terrorist attacks and popped up again recently. > > On May 23, Sen. Tim Johnson (D., S.D.) deployed the term during a rally for Democratic congressional candidate Stephanie Herseth, who recently won a special election for the state’s open seat. “When Stephanie Herseth fills this seat, we are going to have a rising star in the House of Representatives,” he said. “And how sweet it’s going to be on June 2 when the Taliban wing of the Republican Party finds out what’s happened in South Dakota.” Johnson later issued a partial apology, claiming he was referring to Republican leaders who attacked him during his 2002 campaign. > > NAACP chairman Julian Bond used the same slur on June 2 in a speech to the liberal Take Back America conference. Bond, who has a long history of using the phrase to attack Republicans, said that the right draws its “most rabid supporters from the Taliban wing of American politics.” > > And, in a Jan. 21 column from January that has recently come to wider attention, Village Voice theater critic Michael Feingold went even further, calling for Republicans to be “exterminated” in a repulsive and hateful statement: > > “Republicans don’t believe in the imagination, partly because so few of them have one, but mostly because it gets in the way of their chosen work, which is to destroy the human race and the planet. Human beings, who have imaginations, can see a recipe for disaster in the making; Republicans, whose goal in life is to profit from disaster and who don’t give a hoot about human beings, either can’t or won’t. Which is why I personally think they should be exterminated before they cause any more harm.” > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer](http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/8884544.htm?1c) ---
**Author:** ![litost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@litost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/litost)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/30 "2004-06-16T02:22:15Z")
> [@Exgineer](#): > > Ah, I get it now. > > This is just another boneheaded “Americans are stupid, ignorant assholes (or arseholes, depending), and they have absolutely no idea of what’s going on outside their borders” thread, right? > > **Czarcasm** screwed up, because he should have sent this to the Pit. Since he didn’t, I’ll excercise some decorum. > [ul][li] **MelCthefirst** is an ignorant moron.[/li] > [li] I have no idea why anyone outside of the the continental U.S. would care about the rhetoric tossed around in a Presidential election year.[/li] > [li] For the eleventy-thousandth time, we aren’t talking about you, we aren’t worrying about you, and there is absolutely no implied criticism of your country, whichever one it is. The Canadians figured this out a long time ago. Why can’t you?[/li] > [li] In keeping with my last point, most Americans spend about 99.99% of their time not giving much of a crap about what goes on in New Zealand.[/ul][/li] > Honestly, **Mel** , what in hell is your problem? You seem to have a real hard-on for the US, and I just can’t figure out why. You’re obviously happy where you are, and we seem to be happy where we are. I don’t see any need for the vitriol. Wow. Chill out. The thing you quoted from \*\*Mel’s \*\* post was not written to disparage American citizenry. I haven’t seen a single post of his in this thread with that mindset. Your knee is jerking from having encountered one too many anti-American knee-jerkers 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/31 "2004-06-16T02:46:46Z")
> [@MelCthefirst](#): > > People on both sides of the main political parties don’t call each other unpatriotic here, as far as I know. Maybe that’s because of the dearth of hot issues in your country, apart from “What’s your favorite marsupial?” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/32 "2004-06-16T03:10:31Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > People on _both_ sides of the political aisle in America also don’t call each other unpatriotic; So far, it has been a one-way street with the leftists doing the name calling. I wasn’t aware that Ann Coulter was a leftist. :dubious: **kennybath** , do yourself a favor and read the excellent book, _On Bended Knee: the Press and the Reagan Presidency_, by Mark Hertsgaard. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/33 "2004-06-16T03:35:52Z")
**exgineer** > [@](#): > > MelCthefirst is an ignorant moron [Moderator Hat ON] Since this thread is NOT in the Pit, exgineer, I expect you to obey the rules here. Don’t call posters “moron[s]”. [Moderator Hat OFF] ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/34 "2004-06-16T04:35:18Z")
> [@](#): > > **Sisphus Stone** : The ‘unpatriotic’ accusation seems to come from all ends of the political spectrum in the US and, most vociferously, but not exclusively from the far right (which, from my POV, includes nearly 95% of Yanks). It would be interesting to know what your definition of a moderate is. > [@](#): > > **Sisphus** : …freedom fries indeed. You know, I never did see any of those on a menu anywhere. I heard that they were on the menu in the Capitol and a couple of posters said that they saw them on restaurant menus in the South (which is where I live). But I didn’t see them listed a single time. I’ll tell you what I _have_ seen a lot of – American tourists in Paris. > [@](#): > > **litost** : I also think some Americans genuinely believe that it is a hellhole out there and that they are blessed with free speech. At last! Someone who phrased it honestly enough that I can agree! There _are_ Americans who think that. They are largely under educated and religiously and politically conservative. Sometimes they organize and try to change some of those fundamental rights without actually realizing that they are tampering with the very freedoms that they claim set us apart. They are the reason that so many of us continually have to make a _point_ of our our freedoms. To any of you Aussies: Are religious fundamentalists trying to intrude on basic freedoms there? ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/35 "2004-06-16T05:33:48Z")
> [@Exgineer](#): > > Ah, I get it now. > > This is just another boneheaded "Americans are stupid,…blah…blah…blah… happy where you are, and we seem to be happy where we are. I don’t see any need for the vitriol. Wow, hit a nerve there. **Exgineer** , the OP did have a very interesting question. People over here certainly get the impression that “freedom of speech” and “patriotism” are terms that are thrown around a lot by US politicians and commentators from all sides of the spectrum. In non-US countries that does seems strange. By reading some of the earlier posts (thanks **ftg** ), I feel more knowledgeable and I suspect the OP does too. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/36 "2004-06-16T05:49:01Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > To any of you Aussies: Are religious fundamentalists trying to intrude on basic freedoms there? Not that spring to mind, but someone else may be able to come up with one. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/37 "2004-06-16T12:58:51Z")
Another reason why Free Speech is such a big point in the U.S. is that, having embodied the concept in Law, we have found our fellow citizens attacking that freedom (both in the narrow sesnse of violating the Constitutional guarantee and in the broader sense of simply silencing other people) throughout our history. The Constitution had been in effect for only nine years when the first [Sedition Act](http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/statutes/sedact.htm) was passed. (It only outlawed “libel” against the governemnt, but changed the rules to place the burden of proof on the defendant–guilty intil proven otherwise.) In 1918, we tried it again with another (even more noxious) [Sedition Act](http://www.lyceum.org/events/HD2003/2100/1918.htm). From the period of WWI onward, and accelerating after WWII, there have been numerous attempts by the government to silence people who were considered hostile (usually, but not exclusively, because of “communist” expressions). In the broader sense, the campaign to censor or eliminate books from libraries and schools has been a favorite pastime of the more radical elements of both the Right and the Left. The American Library Association has dedicated a week in September, each year, to publicizing these actions and from their lists and others, John Ockerbloom of U. Penn has compiled a brief listing of the major [Banned Books online](http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html). Given our ostensible explicit dedication to freedom of expression, contrasted with the actions in which our citizens seem to routinelly engage, Free Speech is a big deal in the U.S. I suspect that the “patriotism” issue has similar roots. The nation was founded in rebellion and many of the inhabitants at that time actually opposed separating from Britain. Charges of “rebel” and “Tory” (backed up by tarring, vandalism, and murder by groups on both sides) made the issue of who was patriotic a volatile one. There have been several discussion of secession during our history, with the 1861 - 1865 (- 1877?) event dominating our history. President Wilson (largely responsible for the Sedition Act of 1918) also made a public issue of “loyalty,” explicitly condemning immigrants who did not “Americanize” fast enough to suit him or people who championed alternative economic theories. The association of “wrong thought” and “un-American” was firmly rooted in that period (actually leading to the creation of a standing committee in the House of Representatives to investigate “Un-American Activities” in 1937 and not belatedly dismissed until 1975). ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/38 "2004-06-16T20:46:36Z")
Exgineer - not sure what your issue is? I am genuinely interested in this topic, thank goodness noone else thought the same as you about my OP. Calling me an ignorant moron is over the top. For all you know, I am American! I was not talking exclusively about Freedom of Speech and being unpatriotic being part of the election rhetoric. Ofcourse people outside of the US are interested in US presidential elections, the US is seldom out of world news and we don’t live in a vacuum. Much of our film viewing and TV programming is from the US. The US ecomony effects our own etc. Why would I think you are talking about NZ or criticising NZ and I’m patently aware that you are not worrying about NZ, let alone thinking about NZ. I don’t get you. Litost - I’m a girl, ever heard of the spice girls? Well, I was MelC waaay before Sporty Spice. Jackmannii - We have no marsupials in NZ so that would be a hot issue in Australia perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/39 "2004-06-17T00:12:33Z")
**MelCtheFirst** , I suspect that it happens largely because many Americans have a very firm grasp on what they _think_ their rights are. That is because many Americans (and I speak as an American) are stupid. Americans do not, of course, have a monopoly on stupidity. Stupidity is everywhere. Nevertheless, many of us seem to believe that “freedom of speech” is a law somewhere written on the ass of the baby Jesus. It is further believed that this law proves that _nobody_, not _God Himself_, can shut you up, and anybody advocating otherwise is a Commie Mutant Traitor. Our guarantee of free speech doesn’t work that way; as already noted, it’s a prohibition on the _government_. Private citizens can still tell a person to shut his cake-hole—at the risk of the offended person shouting “freedom of speech, freedom of speech! I can say what I want!” until he foams at the mouth and falls over backward. I don’t know the citizens of any other country well enough to suggest a parallel behavior abroad. Something tells me that America isn’t unique in having stupid people who spout inexactitudes in loud voices. ---
**Author:** ![litost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@litost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/litost)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/40 "2004-06-17T23:04:13Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Another reason why Free Speech is such a big point in the U.S. is that, having embodied the concept in Law, we have found our fellow citizens attacking that freedom (both in the narrow sesnse of violating the Constitutional guarantee and in the broader sense of simply silencing other people) throughout our history. Your explanation sounds a bit too sophisticated for the context within which “This is America, a free country” is often used. Perhaps, your reasoning applies to the conduct of the press/media, which acutely aware of the history of free speech tries to continuously highlight this issue. I really wish the media in more countries would follow the US lead and be more active in debating free speech issues. But, from my experience (and what I find a tad bit annoying), is the cliched use of this statement in even unrelated and trivial instances. (think: argument over dinner table where someone asks the other to shut up). I opened a mild pit thread about the implication that this statement implies a sense of exclusivity/superiority, atleast with some US citizenry. Most Dopers said they didn’t think that personally. Do you believe that _some_ Americans genuinely believe that it is a hellhole out there and that they are blessed with free speech? If so, wouldn’t that account for its overuse, a sense of exaggerated national pride? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399.md?page=3)