Your Free Speech Ends at the Point a Bully Says So
It appears that a Maryland state judge may be signing on to the effort to use “peace orders” to prohibit political expression that some people on the far left don’t like. And it is certainly true that those on the left won’t be safe either, as the far right has given no more indication of tolerance for dissent than the far left does.
This is a very disappointing event. As someone who has been personally targeted in the past, I’m saddened to see the continuing disrespect for free expression by those whose political movement was supposedly born in the “Free Speech Movement” of the 1960s. Since then, we’ve gone through campus speech codes, bans on “hate speech” (defined as any speech the hearer disagrees with), attempts to get people fired for disagreeable political views, and now the use of the courts to get those on the other side arrested.
This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Anyone who wants the freedom to express their own views online needs to respect the rights of others to do so. More importantly, they can’t stand mute or make up excuses when someone on the other side is targeted. The bullies might be filing the court papers against you next.
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Now we have not only TMV but the Volkoh Conspiracy (a respectable law website unlike all the other links) roped into this foolishness.
Professor Volkoh has allowed his website to further publicize this insider blogging guerilla warfare while admitting he knows little about the circumstances.
http://volokh.com/2012/05/29/aaron-walker-brett-kimberlin-and-the-fog-of-litigation/
Most distressing. For now all reputable news organizations are keeping a respectable distance between themselves and this insider maelstrom.
TMV won’t get an email, but this is the last I’ve to do with this author. That’s two down and ? to go.
“far left”
Good one.
I gotta say the amount of basic rights that we have given up in just the start of this century is crazy. How is it we are just letting it all happen? Was it always this easy to pull the wool over people’s eyes? I would think it was easier before we had access to information like we do now, but the problem seems to have gotten worse.
Are you sure this was Maryland and not AZ, FL or CO?
“This shouldn’t be a partisan issue.”
Don’t tell me, tell the guy who opined that this Maryland decision has anything to do with “political expression” or “people on the far left,” rather than a legally skilled crazy person who is targeting ANYONE, right or left, who says too much about his sordid past.
It took me awhile to come around to the position that Aaron Walker was being railroaded, precisely because so many people have been making it about “the George Soros / Tides Foundation funded far left hitman” and saying that “there can be no law or justice as long as Eric Holder is running things”.
It’s not about “the Left.” It’s not about the guy’s history as a bomber or any of his convictions from the 80′s and 90′s. It’s about free speech, here and now, and what Kimberlin (and perhaps a few friends, though the evidence of their roles is still a little to vague for me) is (are) doing to silence his critics.
-If it is about “contact”, then talking about him seems a stretch.
-The established line in speech and incitement is advocating an “overt act”. You can say “Grover Cleveland will destroy the country unless do something about him”. You can’t say “I want someone to go out and kill Grover Cleveland.”
I’m not sure all the facts are in on this and I think one link is right in wondering if the judge wasn’t affected by an internet he wasn’t sophisticated about and poor defense. That said, free speech is an important right and it pays to be alert. To often both sides of the partisan wars look at short term gain and ignore long term consequences.