A revisit of Censorship

It seems to me this is misuse of the word. In most of these cases signs were vandalized but remained standing. Even the Minuteman incident isn't censorship - it's a case of free speech countered by opposing free speech. Censorship is when people in power stifle free speech. By your defintion, Ann Coulter shouting down a liberal on a talk show is censorship. You want to live in a world where Barbara Streisand can put on a bad sketch about the president and have her hecklers thrown out of the concert.

The Minuteman speech exemplifies perfectly what the post is trying to convey: When people on the Left are faced with opinions differing from their own, what did they do?

They disrupted an invited guests speech by rushing the stage, unfurling banners, and shouting down the speaker. Do you think that is what the Founders of this Counrty fought to protect?

There is a huge difference between "Ann Coulter and a liberal" on a talk show. Both people are aware they are coming to debate an issue. The situation at Columbia was entirely different. It was a speech on the Minutemen and the challenges we face at the border. Do you see the difference between the two?

I feel that if someone is trying to quiet someone elses right to free speech, it is a form of censorship.

"Power" isn't a necessary component to censor someone. Stopping someones LEGAL right of Free Speech by disruption, vandalism, or other means to prevent that person expressing himself is plain wrong.

Now I have a few questions for you-

Do you defend what the students at Columbia did?

How about the radio DJ's who urged people to destroy their Dixie Chicks CD's?

Can you support one, without the other?

re: your closing points - no, the students acted like idiots, and the people who defaced signs were childish. And the same goes for the Clear Channel DJs. But while I disagree with what they all said, I'll defend to the death (only a figure of speech, I hope) their right to say it.

I think we are a stronger country because we allow Nazis to have parades and because we publish Michelle Malkin's comments that internment camps aren't such a bad idea, because it demonstrates that we aren't afraid to consider extreme viewpoints.
And the idea that exercising our freedom of speech emboldens our enemies, well it directly contradicts the "they hate us for our freedoms" meme.

One of the things that make America great is the fact that we are able to say what we want, when we want, where we want.

I don't agree with what Randi Rhodes says on Air America, but like you, I will defend her right to say it.

Where the line gets crossed is when one group tries to prevent another group from exercising their right of Free Speech.

I have a problem when the "leaders" of that group don't condone what their "followers" have done or said. By not condoning it, it becomes accepted.

Shouting down an opposing viewpoint never works. Intelligent, open dialog is always the best way.