Tag: Free Speech

Dumbass Kalamazoo Sheriff Investigates Someone Who Called Him “Fat Ass” On Facebook

The Kalamazoo County Sheriff is apparently a dumbass as well as being a “fat ass.”

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A West Michigan sheriff sent detectives to investigate a Facebook message he received calling him fat.

The incident report obtained by Newschannel 3 through a Freedom of Information Act request, revealed Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller directed his investigators to the home of the man accused of sending the message.

While no crime occurred, the report showed Fuller sent detectives, not deputies, to talk to the man accused of sending the sheriff a Facebook message:

“Your a fat a– who needs to go on a diet. Stop us from living. Come get me if you want me tubby as fat b—-“

The report showed the sheriff took the message as threatening in nature and showed Fuller requested his employees make contact with the sender and warn against any threatening posts in the future.

The report showed on April 6, 2020, two Kalamazoo County detectives questioned a man at his home in Richland. The report said the 48-year-old denied writing the post and claimed his Facebook account had been hacked.

There Is No Threat To Free Speech–It Is Just That Some Debates Shouldn’t Be Allowed

Writing for The Guardian, Martha Gill shows exactly how not to make a convincing case that claims that free speech is endangered on college campuses are overblown.

But is free speech really under threat? The first thing to say is that the scale of the problem in universities has been exaggerated. The practice of denying people speaking slots over their views has rightly caused concern, but every single instance has also attracted vast coverage in national papers, giving the impression of an epidemic. They are not reflective of the feelings of most students.

. . .

Free speech advocates also misunderstand the motivation of those who might want to shut down a debate: they see this as a surefire mark of intolerance. But some debates should be shut down. For public dialogue to make any progress, it is important to recognise when a particular debate has been won and leave it there.

Even the most passionate free speech advocate might not wish to reopen the debate into whether women should be tried for witchcraft, or whether ethnic minorities should be allowed to go to university, or whether the Earth is flat. No-platformers are not scared – they simply think certain debates are over. You may disagree, but it does not mean they are against free speech.

It is not that some people are against free speech, but rather that some people think some speech simply should not be allowed. Got it.

Thomas Jefferson On Tolerance of Opposing Opinions

If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

The Time Rock & Roll Saved Free Speech (YouTube)

Nice video from the Foundation for Economic Education recounting the tale of the Parent’s Music Resource Center.

I’d forgotten about the Filthy Fifteen list of songs that the PMRC put out in 1985 as being most objectionable.

  1. Prince “Darling Nikki”
  2. Sheena Easton “Sugar Walls”
  3. Judas Priest “Eat Me Alive”
  4. Vanity “Strap On ‘Robbie Baby'”
  5. Mötley Crüe “Bastard”
  6. AC/DC “Let Me Put My Love Into You”
  7. Twisted Sister “We’re Not Gonna Take It”
  8. Madonna “Dress You Up”
  9. W.A.S.P. “Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)”
  10. Def Leppard “High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)”
  11. Mercyful Fate “Into the Coven”
  12. Black Sabbath “Trashed”
  13. Mary Jane Girls “In My House”
  14. Venom “Possessed”
  15. Cyndi Lauper “She Bop”

C-SPAN has a video of the nearly 5-hour long testimony on September 19, 1985 before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. A full transcript plus additional materials is available here.