On #Charlottesville, Hate, and the Constitution

Good Morning.

I return from my self-induced absence to say a few words because I believe that those with a widely heard voice, the platform upon which to speak, and the education to know what is fact and what is fake have an obligation to speak out against wrongdoing – not because it will turn the minds of the ignorant, but because it will show them that the power they think they possess is nothing more than a fantasy they created. Just as the breaking of dawn casts nightmares back to the dark realm from which they sprung, the light of justice can shatter the fantasy that some are more equal than others. In the words of Edmund Burke, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. And so, I use my platform to speak these few words: Chaplinksy v. New Hampshire, 1942.

Click the link. Circulate the word. Hate speech is not constitutionally protected speech.  You do not get to wave a flag with a swastika on it and then complain that your rights to free speech and peaceable assembly have been violated, not in America. The Supreme Court of the land has ruled – and that ruling has been upheld time and again over the last 75 years – that fighting words are not protected under our Constitution; that if you choose to express yourself in a way that you know will incite violence that you are the aggressor, not the victim.

I could go on, but I won't, as I have said all that is needed.

Peace,

Tazi

 



Ask Tazi! is ghostwritten by a human with Bachelors degrees in Communications and in Gender and Women's Studies. Tazi-Kat is not really a talking feline.