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Rise of the Disenfranchised: Shooting Free Speech

Does carrying a gun indemnify free speech or condemn it?  Recently, in New Hampshire, a citizen appeared at an Obama Town Hall wearing a sidearm and wielding a Thomas Jefferson quote about “Watering the Tree of Liberty” — a favorite quote of Oklahoma City Bomber and homegrown domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh.  Is the man with a gun and a protest sign suggesting a living semiotic that supports President Obama or is he really there to actively chop down the first Black president?

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The Illusion of Free Speech

Americans have a solid faith in the expression of “Freedom of
Speech” — but only as long as they agree with what is being expressed.
If the speech is unpopular, or in need of condemning by community
standards, then the speech is repressed and made costly in the loss of
its ranging.

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Censorship is the Last Domain of Tyrants

There is no greater threat to freedom than censorship that pretends to be randomized or accidental.  The internet is a wonky, unstable, place filled with wires and tubes and fragile connections.

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I Have a Dream: Detroit – June 23, 1963

When most people think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, they hearken back to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 where 200,000 people watched and listened.

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Latin American Slang

Over the past year or so I’ve noticed a strange colloquial response in America from those who claim a Latin American culture and heritage.

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Fun with Text-to-Speech

There is no greater fun than playing around with Text-to-Speech on the AT&T Labs website.

ATT Labs

Text-to-Speech has great advantages for aiding the communication needs of the disabled: Those without voice are given one; those who cannot see can hear text. Text-to-Speech can also be used in the everyday world of the ordinary consumer. I have visited the AT&T Labs website to have phrases like “Janna is calling!” made into .WAV files.

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Should Hate Speech Be Free?

I have always been of the mind that all speech should be free. One should always feel free to express the worst in us, out loud, in public, where the speech can be tested against community standards and either be excoriated or accepted.
There are two events, recently published in The New York Times, that force me to wonder if there is a reason why some expressions should never be made public.
The first example concerns the murder trial of Ronell Wilson — who allegedly shot two undercover detectives in the back of the head — when he was arrested, handwritten scraps of a Rap song were found in his pocket describing the killings before they happened.

Hate Speech

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