Reply #55: IMHO it's totally arbitrary [View All]

[jberryhill]

Actually, I missed your phrase "the unprotected speech category of obscenity".

Okay, you seem okay with an "unprotected speech category". That is, things which ARE speech, but which we have defined as unprotected for purely social reasons.

What factors determine how something gets on that list of "unprotected speech categories"?

My point is merely that it is easier to outlaw actions on a content neutral basis - ie "no burning of books" - which still allows the expression of any opinion about anything under the sun, than to attempt to define something like "blasphemy". Most religions are mutually blasphemous to each other in the first place.

But a general literacy-promotion law saying "you aren't allowed to burn books" is a less offensive argument for those who are seeking to ban something.

You told me WHY it was illegal by telling me it is illegal. That's just circular. You haven't told me why I can't give my masturbation speech other than saying "that's what the law says".