Free Speech

The question of whether legal protections should extend to offensive speech in all contexts is a complex and contentious one. While the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects free speech, there are limitations on this protection, particularly in cases of speech that is deemed to be offensive or harmful to others.

In general, the Supreme Court has held that speech that is merely offensive or hurtful is protected by the First Amendment (Levinson, 2013). This includes speech that is considered to be hate speech, as long as it does not rise to the level of inciting violence or causing direct harm to others (Stone, 1994). However, there are some contexts in which speech may be restricted or regulated, such as in cases of obscenity, defamation, or incitement to violence.

With regards to the specific question of whether legal protections should extend to offensive speech near funerals and houses of worship, the Supreme Court has considered such cases in the past. In the case of Snyder v. Phelps (2011), the court held that the First Amendment protected the right of the Westboro Baptist Church to picket near the funeral of a soldier with signs containing offensive and hurtful messages (Smith, 2012). The court found that the picketing was a form of protected speech because the speech was a matter of public concern, and that the emotional distress caused to the family of the deceased did not outweigh the constitutional protection of such speech.

Overall, the courts have held that offensive speech is protected by the First Amendment, as long as it does not rise to the level of incitement to violence or causing direct harm to others. The Supreme Court has set a...

Words are often equated to violence by the political left (hate speech) while the same political left sees rioting and street violence by protesters and Antifa as free speech--so there are political games that are being played here. But that should not be surprising: The press has been an important institution in American society since colonial times. In the early days, newspapers were often partisan and served as mouthpieces for political factions. Today, it is not really much different. The only question people have today is who gets to decide whether speech equals violence and why there appears so often to be a double-standard in…