re: #375 Killgore Trout

I know this won’t make any difference but “free speech” is not exclusive to The First Amendment. That’s just a tired talking point people use to fool themselves that they’re not limiting the free speech of others. Nobody wants to think of themselves as pro-censorship or intolerant.
Other countries have free speech and they’re not covered by our constitution. Speech can be infringed by fear, threats, intimidation, economic or social pressure by citizens without government involvement. The 1st amendment only covers the government’s role in free speech.

you know, my freedom to tell some manager that i might work under that he is a moron is somewhat chilled by factors that don’t require explaining, so i keep my mouth shut. but i don’t go around complaining that my freedom of speech has been infringed

this would come under your “fear” and “economic… pressure” arguments

so, no, i don’t agree that students protesting a commencement speaker is an infringement of freedom of speech and i really don’t want to hear any more whining about it from any quarter