yea...now if we could only get the FCC out of the way.

I like Alan Dershowitz as an example of defending free speech. He, a Jew and ardent supporter of Israel, has defended Nazis in their free speech rights.

Absolutely no offense meant, but you can tell the non-Americans on Blogcritics as they are the ones who make claims of libel, slander, defamation and the like, while Americans pretty much assume anything goes - a very different mindset.

It is a different mindset, something which Americans equally fail to understand. Perhaps our squeamishness over racist bigotry parallels by your ridiculous nudity taboo? Which does the greatest damage to civilisation, Bardot's racist book or Janet Jackson's nipple?

Most Europeans think a system that doesn't give radio shows to vile bigots like Michael Savage is a feature, not a bug.

Which does the greatest damage to civilisation, Bardot's racist book or Janet Jackson's nipple?

I'd say they're tied at zero.

Maybe because France, Europe and North Africa have a history of not stopping at hate speech, but murdering of various ethnic groups? After all, under the Vichy government, French Jews were rounded up and sent to death camps, nevermind the Dreyfuss affair. She was fined, her book wasn't burned. She advocated hate against an identifiable group, and in a country which has a fascist party, there should be curbs on hate. Or do you approve of reviving lynchings in the States, and defending those who would advocate lynchings?

Or that France fought a longtime war in Algeria, which continues to be a model for what the USA is experiencing in Iraq.

This USAian bleating about "free-speech" is just a smoke screen for bullshit. If you advocate genocide, you should be held accountable.

I can't wait for RJ to justify Rwanda (which was coordinated by radio broadcasts) or hail Milosevic as a great nationalist leader.

If you advocate genocide, you should be held accountable.

Why not save some expense and prosecute only the people who commit genocide? Or would you rather play it safe and just exterminate everybody who even thinks about committing genocide?

Exsqueeze me, but the fucking racist bitch was fined. Like a parking ticket. Which means we disapprove of what you've done, and you have to pay the price.

For example, if you want to rag on about the "free" USA, how about you smoke a joint on Main street.

Try telling the State you were just excersizing your freedom of speech before they throw you into a pound-you-in-the-ass prison.

I don't know which is worse about you 'murricans, the noisy bluster or the hypocrisy.

The hypocrisy. The noisy bluster is transparent and doesn't put anybody in jail.

The hypocrisy. The noisy bluster is transparent and doesn't put anybody in jail.

Yah, but they insist on selling via ice cream trucks which dispense meth in trailer parks. So the bluster and hyposcrisy are rather like the two things which need to be mixed together to make deadly nerve-gas.

We ain't perfect, but at least we are truly free to say what we want, without having to worry about being dragged into a courtroom to defend our comments

You might think so, but Jello Biafra was dragged into court for his band the Dead Kennedys including a poster in their album Frankenchrist. 2 Live Crew were dragged into court over the lyrics to their songs. Lenny Bruce was repeatedly put on trial for the things he said. Then there was the Tropic of Cancer trial, the Naked Lunch trial... George Carlin was arrested over supposedly obscene things he said... The poem Howl by Allan Ginsberg was banned at one point... Do you want me to continue?