1560
viewsFree to be a creep
By Sarita, Monday, November 8, 2010, 6 commentsOne day Joseph D. Bane, a street preacher, was doing his preacher thing loudly on a sidewalk in beautiful downtown Greenville, S.C. And by that I mean he was speaking out against homosexuality.
“Faggots, you will burn in hell," Bane yelled at some young women walking by.
The city hit him with a $200 fine for violating the local ordinance, which says you’re not allowed to be an aggressively frothing nutbag.
But shouldn’t Preacher Joe be able to unburden himself in a public square?
The South Carolina Supreme Court thinks so. The high court issued an opinion today reversing a lower court’s ruling and calling the city of Greenville’s ordinance unconstitutional.
If you’re curious, here’s what the ordinance says you cannot do on public space in Greenville:
- Try to get someone into your car so you can mess with 'em.
- Do or say something obscene that would "humiliate, insult, or scare" somebody.
- Follow someone along any street, sidewalk, or other place within the city just to be a pest.
- Simulate sexual stuff in front of so much as a one-person audience.
So what do you think? Did the Supreme Court make the right call? Don’t we have the constitutional right to be a horrendous creep if we want to?
Have you ever been harassed as you walked down the street? How did it affect you, and what did you do? How would you have responded to Mr. Bane?
Another interesting element of the Supreme Court decision, is that the justices compared Joseph Bane to a group of African Americans in 1963. That year they were convicted of breach of peace after marching peacefully on a sidewalk around the State House grounds to protest discrimination against African Americans.
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6 Comments
Freedom of speech
Thats a hard one actually - you live in a country that promotes the right to free speech, but yet you can't be promoting hatred against minority groups (or majority groups lets face it). Thats a hard one. Maybe they could give you the right to freedom of speech so long as you're not promoting hatred?
I saw these crazies in
I saw these crazies in college all the time. The first time I was appalled and argued back, then I just realized they're nuts and it isn't worth my time. I agree w/ the Supreme Court in you HAVE to give EVERYONE the right to say whatever they want or it's very slippery slope. Best said in "An American President" by Michael Douglas:
"America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it. Because it's gonna put up a fight. You say you want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours."
This is the second item you
This is the second item you listed that you cannot do in a public space in Greenville.
"Do or say something obscene that would humiliate, insult or scare someone."
While I am vehement about every facet of free speech, including issues I do not agree with, how can yelling "Faggots, you will burn in Hell" not be intended to humiliate, insult or scare someone.
I agree Scarlett...
I agree Scarlett...
It's OK to humiliate, insult, scare ...
The Supreme Court is not arguing that yelling, "Faggots, you will burn in Hell" is not intended to humiliate, insult or scare someone. Most would agree such an act does accomplish at least one facet of that.
The Supreme Court is saying it's unconstitutional to ban speech that is intended to "humiliate, insult or scare."
The potentially gray area, at least from what I can tell, is the "scare" element. At some point that could that veer into intimidation, or issuing a threat, which, if connected to hate speech, would menace an entire group (gay, black, Hispanic, etc...).
Ah OK I re-read it and now I
Ah OK I re-read it and now I understand.
I agree on the "scare" element. Certainly hard to gauge when it crosses the line from free speech to threatening or intending to harm.
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