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Like our country’s flag, freedom of speech has somehow become synonymous with the most moronic of my fellow Americans. This is, in part, due to a lack of understanding of how “free speech” is actually defined in the Constitution by both sides. The Left will try to tell you “hate
speech” is something defined separately by American law. It is not. Yet. This 2015 Washington Post article does a great job of explaining this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/07/no-theres-no-hate-speech-exception-to-the-first-amendment/. The Right will argue you can say anything you want without repercussions bc AMERICA. This is also not true.
Speech that incites violence (please acknowledge that when the President says something it’s more powerful than when your uncle says something) is clearly prohibited. See specifically “imminent lawless action” here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imminent_lawless_action. Additionally, as can easily be found in
Wikipedia’s entry on freedom of speech (as defined by the Constitution), “Categories of speech that are given lesser or no protection by the First Amendment include obscenity (as determined by the Miller test), fraud, child pornography, speech integral to illegal conduct, speech
that incites imminent lawless action, and regulation of commercial speech such as advertising.” Slander, libel & copyright infringement are also not protected by free speech so keep that in mind before you make up lies about celebs on TikTok for followers
Speaking of social
Speaking of social
media: social media is NOT covered by these same freedom of speech protections bc these platforms are private companies. They have their own community standards and guidelines which are more strict than those upheld by the Constitution and that is very much within their rights as
private companies. I will always defend free speech and your right to it even if I vehemently disagree with your thoughts and beliefs, but I will also always condemn being a dumb bitch (gender neutral). Knowledge is your friend! Reading and research and critical thinking is cool!
