( Americans, please enter) How to fully understand the freedom of speech in the United States

Forums: Legal, Law
Email this Topic • Print this Page

It is very well known that in America you can burn a flag of the Stars and
Stripes, or ridicule American President as a moron, without being accused or
arrested by police.

Because it is called Human Rights. And American Human Rights has served as a great role model for the rest of the world for more than 200 years.

But what is the limit?

The news that Feng Luoyu (see who's Feng, click
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/09/the_most_hated_woman_in_china.html
) will be repatriated from America to China has caused great confusion in some Chinese people, including those with PhD degree in medical science. What happened is that Feng in her weibo (China's version of Twitter) claimed that she wanted to burn USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services).

A Chinese doctor, PhD, asked questioningly:"Doesn't America has freedom of speech?" The man has, in several occasions, expressed his admiration for Feng that she has with her own efforts successfully become American, regardless Feng being "the most hated woman in China."

Another doctor answered assuringly:"In America, you can ask American
government 'go to hell,' yet you can not be concrete to certain department or
certain person, or else, antiterrorist act is waiting for you.

"You can burn a national flag, but you cannot burn the letter of draft notice, because evading military service is a treason."

Hearing this, I hesitated. If I've stayed in America, I would fear that asking, though jokingly, American government 'go to hell' would cause me to be sent back to China." Very Happy

So guys, your opinions will be much appreciated on How to get well the
concept of Freedom of Speech in United States.

Thank you for reading and, replying.

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Question • Score: 0 • Views: 967 • Replies: 5

No top replies

@oristarA,

I cannot find an article saying this person is being deported so I can't discuss the details of this particular story.

That said, freedom of speech does not extend to the conveyance of threats. If you say "I'm going to kill the guy over there" that's not free speech. You can say "I hate the President" and that is protected. If you say you want to kill him, you will be investigated very quickly. That applies to written word as well. You can find plenty of posters on this web site who say the hate the President; it's very common. You will not find any death threats. That applies not to just the President, but to anyone.

Also, I'm not sure Feng Luoyu is a US citizen. If she is not, then she is not automatically entitled to US constitutional protections (although she could say she hates the President with impunity.) I'm not sure which came first here. She could be getting deported for other reasons and issued a threat to the Immigration Services because of that or she might have issued the threat then was picked up because of it. If you have a link, I can read for more details.

0 Replies

@oristarA,

Basically agree with what engineer said. Freedom of speech means you can say anything that isn't a direct (or indirect) threat or that is not an outright lie. You do have to be careful about two things. 1) Threats: you can say, "The President is a monster and an idiot." You cannot say, "I'm going to blow up the White House and kill that monstrous idiot." 2) Libel (or 'slander' if it's oral rather than written): You do have to be careful about repeating rumors without checking your sources. If it turns out that something nasty you said about someone, passing it off as fact, turns out to be, in fact, untrue, you won't necessarily be arrested. The police won't care. But you will probably be brought into court by the person whose reputation you have damaged.

There's an old American saying that freedom of speech does not give a person the right to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater.

0 Replies

Thank you Engineer and Lustig Andrei.

American Government - the political system is the best so far in the world in my view, because the way it runs is close to RCT method in science, which can reduce possible bias to minimum, so it is the opposite of tyranny.

1 Reply

@oristarA,

The American democratic system is terrible sometimes. On the other hand, it's way better than any of the other systems we humans have come up with so far. Smile

1 Reply

@Lustig Andrei,

Lustig Andrei wrote:

The American democratic system is terrible sometimes. On the other hand, it's way better than any of the other systems we humans have come up with so far.

At certain stage, on certain aspect, a totalitarian system can be better than ADS. For example, former Soviet Union was the first to send human being into outerspace and won one of the greatest honors in the astronautic history, when America was dragging behind. But in the long run, ADS shows its great strength for sustainable development, because it walks on the right direction.

0 Replies

( Americans, please enter) How to fully understand the freedom of speech in the United States

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know