No, no. You CAN'T say something to intimidate, antagonize, terrorize, or incite to riot. You cannot slander.

Yes the paper can print essays that state a reason why someone disagrees with a law, or the president, etc, but people can't go around using "opinion" or "free speech" to intimidate, denigrate, or otherwise injure.

There's a reason that hate crimes are classified as crimes. And every reasonable person knows that.

That's why I love Paris so much and will be one day living there with my children. They too have Freedom of Speech, however, that speech has to be responsible. Can not have anything derogatory in it that could cause harm or hate or even violence and can not include slander.

I think there needs to be Freedom of Speech: with responsibility. If you can not be responsible, then you lose your right to it. Speech is not a gift, it is a responsibility we must use respectfully around us.

That being said, most schools do not like things on shirts in general. At least school code wise. I've been out of high school since 2000 and even then there was the rule that there could be no types of graphics or sayings on the clothing that could be deemed offensive to another party. That is being respectful. If you do not like a group of people, keep it to yourself when you're in a public place such as school. That is not a place for a political, racial, or prejudice platform. It is a place to learn.

You can wear your crosses or other symbols of religious beliefs if you want, but leave hate out of it. Teens have it hard enough in school. I was once a goth and dark teen and still kinda am as an adult and parent, but even I know that was just plain stupidity on that man's part.

hang on, let me get this straight. so NOT allowing children to wear t-shirts which promote racism is fascism?? where is that covered in 'mein kampf'? or could it be that yowo is chucking around words she doesn't really understand?

Yowo, with all due respect, you seem to be missing the distinction between having your opinion and foisting an opinion on others. Secondly, stating that you don't like the president is a far cry from wearing a shirt that denigrates an entire religion and is hate-mongering.

And yes, actually, your thoughts DO become more important when you turn 18 (and even more so when you turn 21). Until then, technically speaking, you are not accorded all the rights (and responsibilities) of adults; you are "in training" to join society.

As several of us have mentioned, the recent legal concept of hate crimes brings an entirely different perspective on "laissez-faire" concepts of free speech (one that's long overdue, i. m. o.).

yowo, with the greatest respect your opinions become more important once you start to know what you are talking about. you still seem to be at the age at which you live under the misapprehension of knowing everything, and in this place you are debating against people who have researched this stuff until their eyes have bled.

Good analogy Jan. My eyes do feel like they are bleeding some days.

Wut? So you can wear hateful symbols like the cross, but you can not wear a hateful symbol like a swastika?

1. I'm a male. 2. I understand fascism better than most political systems and ideologies. I was actually kidding about that, but go ahead.


A crime should not include speaking.
Shut up, you have no respect for me and that is plain to see. I know I don't know everything, but if knowing that I'm a stupid, mindless American is what you want me to realize, then no thanks. Regardless of anything I'm too young to lose hope. Don't assume that I don't research just because you don't agree with me! There's little to research here. It's a matter of whether or not you should be able to say what you want in a school setting.

Yes, or at least more "legitimate" and serious, from the perspective of the American legal system. Try yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater at five years old, then try it again at 18. We hope you have internet access in prison...

Don't you think this is a bit of an overreaction?


See, this is where I think we're having the problem. Who, pray tell, is the "you" in your sentence? Nobody has the right to say anything they want in a school setting. Teachers and administrators watch every single word they utter, believe me, nowadays, and students shouldn't be allowed to say "anything," either.

As has been said about a zillion times on this forum, freedom of speech does not mean everyone's allowed to say anything all the time, and if someone steps over societally determined lines, then they have to pay the consequences. Good grief, Yowo, surely you can appreciate the legal and ethical and sociological difference between someone wearing a necklace with a cross on it and someone burning a cross on their neighbor's lawn?

Cross - hate to gays.
Burning a cross - hate to Catholics or blacks.

Big difference.