:
Sat Dec 30 -


SHOULD DISTASTEFUL
SPEECH BE ILLEGAL?

The Sun-Sentinel's
Broward Cnty Mssge Bd

Belatedly, I picked up the printed dead-trees version of the local BrowardPB edition of the New Times weekly publication Friday morning. I quickly noticed that Bob Norman's article about the Sentinel's Broward Community Message Board Forum seemed to be included. But, to my chagrin, I quickly noted that the print article ended with a different paragraph. Later in the day, I examined the Broward version of the article in the print edition more closely only to observe that the Miami Online version of the article seemed to be significantly different from the BrowardPB version. That aggravated me. It means that there may be (at least) four differing versions of that article! And I don't have the time or patience to carefully examine and compare all of them, even if I had them all available to hand, which I don't.

I believe that Bob Norman has started a worthwhile discussion but has gone about it in a maladroit way, and publishing different versions is not helpful either. I presume his editor is responsible for the differing versions of it.

Bob is offended by the use of vernacular language on a message board dedicated to Broward County. There is no such thing as the right not to be offended. And, at the end of the day, I am left uncertain as to whether Bob's criticism is constructive or helpful in improving the message board forum and encouraging more local residents to use it.

Notice that he and I have different reactions to the material. Why? First, different people have different reactions to just about everything. But, second and more importantly, Bob describes the material as "hate speech," whereas I am very reluctant to use that formulation because of potential legal implications related to the First Amendment. Also, I don't want to muzzle people; I want to encourage more communitarian communication. Fort Lauderdale has some demographic peculiarities. And not all of the posters are even in Broward County. It's a strange mix and complex to sort out.

The management of the comments posted on the Sentinel's community message board is supposed to be handled by a separately-contracted company called Topix. Is this Wayne and Garth's latest tech startup operating out of their parents garage? I have no idea; I don't know anything about that company. And it is not my purpose to destroy it. At the same time, I think it is utterly unrealistic to expect an Editor-in-Chief to have time to manage comments.

Caveat! Some of the language quoted
in this link may upset sensitive people:

-- Racism Central --
:: By Bob Norman ::

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