B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| reply to SRFireside
Re: You want others to pay for your speech--why?
said by SRFireside  :Everybody has a right to be heard. Maybe not on television, but they have that right. You have a problem with your government? You have the right to speak up and bear your grievances. You have a problem with a company? You have the right to take it up to their office, and if they don't listen you have the right to take it to the media. In a democracy nobody is supposed to be silenced. Wait a second -- where did this "right" come from?
All the Constitution implies is that the government can't restrict your right to speech (by passing a law, etc.)
Where do you get this idea that you have any "right to take it up to their office" in a company? As far as I know there has never been any such right. A company can EASILY bar you from the premises and tell you to screw off. Of course, you can always choose to sue them (or press criminal charges if applicable).
-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function |
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SRFireside
join:2001-01-19
Houston, TX | Which ultimately means you do get your right to be heard. Can we get back on topic now? |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28 | There's a topic? 
-- B |
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cowardly poster
@dsl-w.verizon
 from:
SRFireside
| reply to B
The right to free speech and the right to be heard are connected. If you remove the possibility of being heard than the right to free speech is an illusion. Therefore, the "right" of free speech implies a "possibility" of being heard, but not a "right" of being heard.
The community square (and it's counterpart, public access TV) does not provide a "right" of being heard (people can always walk away), but it does provide the "possibility" of being heard.
The cable company is charging you a fee to subsidize public access. So what? It's the business model that you've agreed to. You end up subsidizing ALL channels that you receive, whether you watch them or not. ESPN charges the cable TV company more than any other channel by far. If you don't watch ESPN, you are subsidizing anybody that does. When was the last time someone that watches ESPN thanked you for paying a little extra every month so that they could watch ESPN?
OK, so I occasionally watch public access, so thank you for paying a little extra every month so that I could watch public access. |
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