Freedom of Speech

What's been happening to the freedom of speech in this country? I'm mean it really seems that you cannot speak your mind of what you believe without getting into trouble. For example: A male co-worker cannot compilment a female co-worker. If he does he may get slapped with sexual harassment. What is wrong with this people. If a politician, a sports athlete, a movie star, or some other famous person speaks their mind and it may be rude, it may be offensive so what but it may also be the truth as well. Other people who found the remarks offensive, derogtory, out of context or whatever stupid reason they give will want that person to either step-down from their postion, to pay a fine, to publically apologize or maybe somthing else. If someone is a whistle-blower of a company that they work for, someone else will try to shut you up and keep you from talking.

This is bull-shit people. It's just not right. I have a voice and I firmly believe in FREEDOM OF SPEECH and if anyone doesn't like it can KISS MY ASS!

For the most part I agree with you NR. But on the other hand there's a big difference in telling a female co-worker that, "You look lovely today. Is that a new outfit?" and " Boy you sure look good in that outfit. I'd love to see you out of it though."

Freedom of speech in the work place does not really exist.

When you agree to work there, and when they agree to hire you.

Well you have to abide by their rules.

Sure their are laws about safety and such. Also laws about not talking about one's religion. I know that one really good, as it has been pointed out to me on a couple of occasions by management.

The thing is when you hire on, you have to abide by their rules when you are there, or you can CHOOSE not to work there.

The business owner has the right to apply codes of conduct to those people who the business owner decides to hire.

I don't see this as a first amendment issue.

I could be wrong though.

Hi Theophilus!
You nailed it. Or that's the way I look at it anyway. When I'm on the clock, I'm on their time and have to follow their rules. Though a sexual harrasment charge for telling some one they look pretty seems excessive.

Personaly I have a bigger problem with the one sided way it is handled. If a man is sexually harrased by a woman, the charge is laughed off. I was in that situation before. I'll admit it was funny at first, I actually felt sort of honored that she was enthatuated with. Though after telling her to leave me alone and she still harrassed me and started to bring me adult type gifts infront of customers, it started getting scary.

CarolinaHound wrote:Hi Theophilus!
You nailed it. Or that's the way I look at it anyway. When I'm on the clock, I'm on their time and have to follow their rules. Though a sexual harrasment charge for telling some one they look pretty seems excessive.

Personaly I have a bigger problem with the one sided way it is handled. If a man is sexually harrased by a woman, the charge is laughed off. I was in that situation before. I'll admit it was funny at first, I actually felt sort of honored that she was enthatuated with. Though after telling her to leave me alone and she still harrassed me and started to bring me adult type gifts infront of customers, it started getting scary.

I totally agree with CH. Let me give you another example, it's not about sexual harassment but it does deal with on the job. A few years back a person I knew who was also a co-worker of mine like to express himself by what he wore. He wore have t-shirts that were displaying black metal images, satan, an invertated pentgram or anything that would relate to it. He never pushed his beliefs on anyone. He was actually a cool guy. The job we would be doing was stocking shelves late night in a store. The store would be open 24/7 and there would still be a few customers in the store. There wasn't any company dress policy that forbid him to display such images on his clothing. None of the supervisors had an issue with what he wore, nor did any of his co-workers. The only ones who had a problem with what he wore was an older married couple. They complained to management of how vulger his clothes were. After that mangement told him he could not come to work whearing those clothes, or to cover them up. Yet, after that incident, management of the did not up-date their dress code policy. The person quit shorty afterwards.

This is a prime example of trying to stifle freedom of speach and freedom of expression.

Here is a question for anyone that wants to answer it, Is it better to stand up for what you believe and voice your opinion or to be respectful of other peoples feelings despite your own beliefs?

Night-Reaper wrote:Here is a question for anyone that wants to answer it, Is it better to stand up for what you believe and voice your opinion or to be respectful of other peoples feelings despite your own beliefs?

There's no reason you can't do both.

CarolinaHound wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:Here is a question for anyone that wants to answer it, Is it better to stand up for what you believe and voice your opinion or to be respectful of other peoples feelings despite your own beliefs?

There's no reason you can't do both.

I agree, you can voice your opinion, as you have the right to, while still being respectful of others.

Old Timer wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:Here is a question for anyone that wants to answer it, Is it better to stand up for what you believe and voice your opinion or to be respectful of other peoples feelings despite your own beliefs?

There's no reason you can't do both.

I agree, you can voice your opinion, as you have the right to, while still being respectful of others.

I agree with you and CH on this, however there are times where someone tries to be respectful of someone else's feelings while voiceing their opinion or standing up for what that person beleive and it still led to a disagreement, conflict or even confrontation.

Here is an example: My father likes to ware shirts that have the American flag on it. The shirt said "I'm proud to be American, you just try and burn this flag"!One day he told me that a hispanic person told him that he should not ware that shirt and that it is offensive. My father said "You can kiss my ass if you have a problem with my shirt". Nothing more was said from the Hispanic. This is an example where doing both doesn't always work.

Night-Reaper wrote:

Old Timer wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:Here is a question for anyone that wants to answer it, Is it better to stand up for what you believe and voice your opinion or to be respectful of other peoples feelings despite your own beliefs?

There's no reason you can't do both.

I agree, you can voice your opinion, as you have the right to, while still being respectful of others.

I agree with you and CH on this, however there are times where someone tries to be respectful of someone else's feelings while voiceing their opinion or standing up for what that person beleive and it still led to a disagreement, conflict or even confrontation.

Here is an example: My father likes to ware shirts that have the American flag on it. The shirt said "I'm proud to be American, you just try and burn this flag"!One day he told me that a hispanic person told him that he should not ware that shirt and that it is offensive. My father said "You can kiss my ass if you have a problem with my shirt". Nothing more was said from the Hispanic. This is an example where doing both doesn't always work.

Living where there are a lot of hispanics and illegals. I was once told that it was offensive to them for me to fly my flag on their independence day. I told that person that I was also offended by so many of the illegal aliens here in my country that either could not or would not even speak english. All I got was a dirty look,. but not another word was said.

Night-Reaper wrote:

Old Timer wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:Here is a question for anyone that wants to answer it, Is it better to stand up for what you believe and voice your opinion or to be respectful of other peoples feelings despite your own beliefs?

There's no reason you can't do both.

I agree, you can voice your opinion, as you have the right to, while still being respectful of others.

I agree with you and CH on this, however there are times where someone tries to be respectful of someone else's feelings while voiceing their opinion or standing up for what that person beleive and it still led to a disagreement, conflict or even confrontation.

Here is an example: My father likes to ware shirts that have the American flag on it. The shirt said "I'm proud to be American, you just try and burn this flag"!One day he told me that a hispanic person told him that he should not ware that shirt and that it is offensive. My father said "You can kiss my ass if you have a problem with my shirt". Nothing more was said from the Hispanic. This is an example where doing both doesn't always work.

In that case, it's their problem, not his. They are in the United States after all. Do they expect to go into the woods and not see any trees? That's something I'll never understand about people. If you don't believe in God, and the symbols of the religion offends you, don't look at the church as you pass it. If you don't want to hear a sermon, don't argue the existance of God with someone who believes. If the top scientist of the world and all their data hasn't convensed us yet; I doubt some irritated shmuck who got tickled over a 3 digit score on a free IQ test they took online is going to get the job done.

In your father's case, there won't much else he could do except ignore the twerp. Harder to do than it sounds though. I'd have probablly told him to swim the river back home if he didn't like it, and don't let a moccosin bitecha in the butt.

Old Timer wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:

Old Timer wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:Here is a question for anyone that wants to answer it, Is it better to stand up for what you believe and voice your opinion or to be respectful of other peoples feelings despite your own beliefs?

There's no reason you can't do both.

I agree, you can voice your opinion, as you have the right to, while still being respectful of others.

I agree with you and CH on this, however there are times where someone tries to be respectful of someone else's feelings while voiceing their opinion or standing up for what that person beleive and it still led to a disagreement, conflict or even confrontation.

Here is an example: My father likes to ware shirts that have the American flag on it. The shirt said "I'm proud to be American, you just try and burn this flag"!One day he told me that a hispanic person told him that he should not ware that shirt and that it is offensive. My father said "You can kiss my ass if you have a problem with my shirt". Nothing more was said from the Hispanic. This is an example where doing both doesn't always work.

Living where there are a lot of hispanics and illegals. I was once told that it was offensive to them for me to fly my flag on their independence day. I told that person that I was also offended by so many of the illegal aliens here in my country that either could not or would not even speak english. All I got was a dirty look,. but not another word was said.

Well said OT!! I feel the exact same way about it!

CarolinaHound wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:

Old Timer wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:Here is a question for anyone that wants to answer it, Is it better to stand up for what you believe and voice your opinion or to be respectful of other peoples feelings despite your own beliefs?

There's no reason you can't do both.

I agree, you can voice your opinion, as you have the right to, while still being respectful of others.

I agree with you and CH on this, however there are times where someone tries to be respectful of someone else's feelings while voiceing their opinion or standing up for what that person beleive and it still led to a disagreement, conflict or even confrontation.

Here is an example: My father likes to ware shirts that have the American flag on it. The shirt said "I'm proud to be American, you just try and burn this flag"!One day he told me that a hispanic person told him that he should not ware that shirt and that it is offensive. My father said "You can kiss my ass if you have a problem with my shirt". Nothing more was said from the Hispanic. This is an example where doing both doesn't always work.

In that case, it's their problem, not his. They are in the United States after all. Do they expect to go into the woods and not see any trees? That's something I'll never understand about people. If you don't believe in God, and the symbols of the religion offends you, don't look at the church as you pass it. If you don't want to hear a sermon, don't argue the existance of God with someone who believes. If the top scientist of the world and all their data hasn't convensed us yet; I doubt some irritated shmuck who got tickled over a 3 digit score on a free IQ test they took online is going to get the job done.

In your father's case, there won't much else he could do except ignore the twerp. Harder to do than it sounds though. I'd have probablly told him to swim the river back home if he didn't like it, and don't let a moccosin bitecha in the butt.

I agree with you as well! There is just too many people in this country where something offends them, but the idiots will not ignore it or simply look away! Those idioits just want to change something or get rid of something to their liking. They don't care if any one else enjoys something.

Night-Reaper wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:

Old Timer wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:Here is a question for anyone that wants to answer it, Is it better to stand up for what you believe and voice your opinion or to be respectful of other peoples feelings despite your own beliefs?

There's no reason you can't do both.

I agree, you can voice your opinion, as you have the right to, while still being respectful of others.

I agree with you and CH on this, however there are times where someone tries to be respectful of someone else's feelings while voiceing their opinion or standing up for what that person beleive and it still led to a disagreement, conflict or even confrontation.

Here is an example: My father likes to ware shirts that have the American flag on it. The shirt said "I'm proud to be American, you just try and burn this flag"!One day he told me that a hispanic person told him that he should not ware that shirt and that it is offensive. My father said "You can kiss my ass if you have a problem with my shirt". Nothing more was said from the Hispanic. This is an example where doing both doesn't always work.

In that case, it's their problem, not his. They are in the United States after all. Do they expect to go into the woods and not see any trees? That's something I'll never understand about people. If you don't believe in God, and the symbols of the religion offends you, don't look at the church as you pass it. If you don't want to hear a sermon, don't argue the existance of God with someone who believes. If the top scientist of the world and all their data hasn't convensed us yet; I doubt some irritated shmuck who got tickled over a 3 digit score on a free IQ test they took online is going to get the job done.

In your father's case, there won't much else he could do except ignore the twerp. Harder to do than it sounds though. I'd have probablly told him to swim the river back home if he didn't like it, and don't let a moccosin bitecha in the butt.

I agree with you as well! There is just too many people in this country where something offends them, but the idiots will not ignore it or simply look away! Those idioits just want to change something or get rid of something to their liking. They don't care if any one else enjoys something.

We call them drama queens.