# 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:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**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, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/41 "2004-06-17T23:05:58Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Maybe that’s because of the dearth of hot issues in your country, apart from “What’s your favorite marsupial?” I fervently hope you were joking. No, no, I take that back. I am 99.99% sure you were. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/42 "2004-06-17T23:58:37Z")
> [@](#): > > 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? Absolutely. The whole “Florida” contingent that accompanied **Mark Serlin** in one of his early sojourns on the boards (I do not believe that they were all socks, but they were all associates) was notorious for interrupting any thread discussing the pros and cons of the U.S. with rather mindless chants of “We’re Number One!” and claims that no other nation had any freedoms. We have a couple of posters, still, whose comments exalting “American freedoms” tend to be rather exaggerated, especially when they use them to denigrate other countries. However, I suspect that even if my comment was “too sophisticated” in some instances, it is the very presence of those “sophisticated” discussions that reinforces the baser attitudes. When people who do not choose to study history hear the more literate holding up the banner of freedom (whether it be a newspaper or a politician), they may still grasp the basic idea that we are supposed to _have_ freedoms, even if they don’t quite grasp that we are not unique in that regard. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/43 "2004-06-19T01:54:26Z")
> [@Gaudere](#): > > **exgineer** > [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] I shouldn’t have done that, and I knew I made a mistake as soon as I hit “submit.” It won’t happen again. You have my word on that. I don’t often venture into GD because it’s not good for my blood pressure. This thread was started in IMHO, but that’s not an excuse because my post was against the rules of that forum too. I just got really, really irritated. The OP and a couple of other posters in this thread have established a pattern, and I’m getting tired of it. That’s all I’m saying. ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/44 "2004-06-20T20:42:18Z")
> [@Exgineer](#): > > I shouldn’t have done that, and I knew I made a mistake as soon as I hit “submit.” It won’t happen again. You have my word on that. > > I don’t often venture into GD because it’s not good for my blood pressure. This thread was started in IMHO, but that’s not an excuse because my post was against the rules of that forum too. I just got really, really irritated. > > The OP and a couple of other posters in this thread have established a pattern, and I’m getting tired of it. > > That’s all I’m saying. What pattern? Your post indicated way more than just this. If you mean questioning cultural norms, then you are correct - however, I would question any cultural norms and look for explanations, if I think they look interesting. Leaving your culture and looking at it from another perspective is a great thing. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399/45 "2004-06-21T19:44:55Z")
> [@litost](#): > > 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? Well, my father is sophisticated enough to know that it’s not a total hellhole out there. He actually is quite well-travelled. On the other hand his life experiences have made him aware that for him, the U.S. is a special place. In his life, he has lived in four countries: Hungary, Germany, Canada, and the U.S. In Hungary he lived under the Nazis and their Hungarian followers. In East Germany he lived under the Communists. Montreal was all right until the language police started coming around, making use of English in many places illegal. Now he lives in the U.S. Based on his personal experiences, is it any surprise that there’s no way he’d ever live anywhere else? Ed [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-american-and-freedom-of-speech-explain/250399.md?page=2)