http://bigthink.com/videos/monica-duffy-...a-nutshell
EXCERPT: . . . "when you poll people around the world and they ask, 'What is it that you think is most important about the United States that you think sets the United States apart,' more often than not people point to the First Amendment and to the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, the freedom of religion as first and foremost what makes the United States special" [...]
But what if that free speech incites hate or violence? Bring it on, says Monica Duffy Toft, Professor of International Politics at Tufts University. After all, you can't throw out the whole idea of free speech just because you don't agree with what someone is saying — that's the whole point of the First Amendment of the Constitution. Even if it's hate speech, the idea that it can happen is more important to uphold than the words themselves. Toft posits to "Let them assemble, let them have their freedom of speech [...] if you fear that this is going to lead to violence, conflict, that you redouble your efforts and have police and you make arrests and you say 'you’ve overstepped your boundaries'."
MORE: http://bigthink.com/videos/monica-duffy-...a-nutshell
EXCERPT: . . . "when you poll people around the world and they ask, 'What is it that you think is most important about the United States that you think sets the United States apart,' more often than not people point to the First Amendment and to the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, the freedom of religion as first and foremost what makes the United States special" [...]
But what if that free speech incites hate or violence? Bring it on, says Monica Duffy Toft, Professor of International Politics at Tufts University. After all, you can't throw out the whole idea of free speech just because you don't agree with what someone is saying — that's the whole point of the First Amendment of the Constitution. Even if it's hate speech, the idea that it can happen is more important to uphold than the words themselves. Toft posits to "Let them assemble, let them have their freedom of speech [...] if you fear that this is going to lead to violence, conflict, that you redouble your efforts and have police and you make arrests and you say 'you’ve overstepped your boundaries'."
MORE: http://bigthink.com/videos/monica-duffy-...a-nutshell