is there such a thing as free press and free thinking (i mean independant not not costing anything). everything influences everything else, chaos theory style, so therefore it is impossible to totally orriginal as you have taken inspiration and influence from other sources. i accept that at some point there was an ‘original thought’ which sparked it all off, but can we ever been free thinking again?
also is freedom of speech just a lie. i can’t walk through a town shouting racist slogans without being arrested. so therefore speech is constrained and not free.
NB i have no urge to walk through a town shouting racist slogans.
Slightly off-topic but if we are nothing more than our genes and our upbringing, can we say we have free-will. We have no control over our genes or our upbringing so what you are saying is, we have no control over our lives or ourselves. Just something to think about...
i dont think it would be right to assume that science could predict everything that is to happen. i think this is something to do with quantum theory (although not even pretending to be a physicist i wouldn’t really know!). one of the principles of this thoery is that we can never know everything there is to know about a particle. but anyway even if we could, we could never know enough about every single piece of matter in the world to accurately predict what will happen next. if the purpose of science is to determine the future of the world then i think science would be morally dubious as well as pretty darn pointless.
but anyway… if we decide that we can never be sure of what is to happen, then i think that the idea of free will itself becomes irrelevant. we do not know how our lives will turn out, so even we do believe in pre-ordination, it still feels like we are making choices and it still feels like we can control our own fate. i see no conflict between believing that there is only one possible way the world may turn out and believing that the individuals within it have free will.
I would definitely agree with you there chloe. There must be more to us than just our genes and environment for us to have free-will and I think it is too simplistic to say we have no control. Defintely quantum theory plays a role in this but there are other aspects of life which would lead us to the same conclusion.
Secondly, I would agree that EVEN if we don’t have free-will, i.e. our future is planned, we do not know what our future is and we do not know that we don’t have free-will. Therefore, it is just as good as if we DO have free-will. We may choose to do something and whether it was pre-ordained or not, it will feel like we have freely chosen to do it. Free will will always exist in the mind even if it does not in reality.
Free speech is the biggest illusion since man believe the Earth was flat.
There is no way one can have free speech. Yeah I can go and bad-mouth a Prime Minister, a President, but let me say something about the Pope. The government might not hang me, but devout followers would find me.
I can’t go and curse people out in the street. I can not fly a Nazi flag from the hood of my car. I think they should edit it from freedom of speech to freedom of opinion.
The First Amendment to the Constitution says that Congress shall make no law limiting freedom of speech. Under the notion of “incorporation” this also means that no State shall make such a law.
Noithing is said about what non-governmental agencies or private parties can or cannot do in this area. People who say what they want, thus, take their chances. I, as I very much doubt, anyone would seek to harm you physically if you verbally attacked the Pope, then the criminal law would come into operation, just as it would if someone tried to attack you physically at any other time.
About cursing people out in the street: there are laws about distubing the peace, and creating a public nuisance. These might, as they should, come into operation. You are not a privileged party. You certainly may fly a Nazi flag from the hood of your car. Of course, you may have a problem, just as you would if you defecated in the street, or you spat on the sidewalk. In addition, the same laws I mentioned above about disturbing the peace, or creating a public nuisance, would come into play.
The First Amendment guarantees what it guarantees. It does not guarantee foolishness, and deliberate idiocy.
Well put Kennethamy, the first amendment doesn’t guarantee foolishness, and deliberate idicoy. And my mind is totally blank right now. But if I were to stand peacefully in front of the White House with a big poster saying, “F*CK BUSH”. Would I be disturbing the peace? But I would be offending alot people. Now that isn’t the best example, but do you see where I’m leading with this. Can I put pornographic posters in a public place on property that is mine?
