Sunday, July 27, 2014

Supreme Court Buffer Zone Ruling

This is the thing I keep thinking about the SCOTUS ruling about buffer zones. You aren't infringing on someone's speech to require them to do so at a certain distance from a public passage - they can still speak as much as they want. If the person passing through wants to hear, they can, of their own volition, walk towards the people who are speaking. What you are doing is REQUIRING the person passing through to listen, since we can't turn off our ears. There is, however, NO requirement in the constitution that we have to listen to what someone is saying.  By doing away with the buffer zone, they are essentially requiring someone to listen.

Furthermore, you are NOT guaranteed an audience or forum for your speech by the constitution. A newspaper is NOT required to publish anything you wish to say. You are not allowed to address people in any public place that you want. Even libraries have rules about speech.  If you have something you wish to say, it is your job to make sure that people want to listen to you.  No one should be required to listen. 

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