Is freedom of speech based on race?

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Chris C	There is a definite double standard in this country. Not only in regards to speech but in most other aspects as well. As much as some groups of people scream and yell about inequality and racism, these are the same people who, by a large prcentage, are allowed and encouraged to collect from social programs and who benefit from affirmative action based soley on their race, while the middle aged caucasion male in poor health does not even qualify for $7 a month in food stamps and ends up on the brink of being homeless after working his butt off since he was 14. White people must watch every word they say and hope someone does not take it the wrong way or twist it to make a huge issue out of it and then go after them for blood. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

lori n	it is a double standard and it is wrong. i have had to say this 2 many times. we have to come together at some point. has anyone watched BET or comedy central lately? i wont forget the first racial jokes ive ever heard. my father joked blacks, but one night while watching tv, theres a black man making racial remarks about whites and not on a cable network. if people want racism to stop, everybody needs to have the same restrictions, but people have to realize this is our right as americans to free speech. we seem to be far from unity, i have black friends but white and blacks degrade our friendships. i could give a hundred examples and i would still have to listen to some blacks say that they alone have the right to be prejudice. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

michaeljbear	Yes, freedom of speech is based on race because people are hypocrites. Daily, and I mean all the time, we hear non-whites referring to white women using the most deflamatory names imaginable--most of which cannot be repeated here. Yet, no one complains, however...shoe on other foot, and the AA's start screaming racism. Who are the true racists here? Hmmm? Oh, maybe I should refer you to a line, written by a black writer, from the award winning script and movie, Boyz n the Hood. "Get away from them nappy headed boys!" Double standards? Yes. Using the so-called defense of the people who say they are offended, I am offended by all of them including Imus, all Rap and Hip-Hop music must be banned permanently for the same reasons, and worse, that Imus has gotten in trouble. Otherwise, all this talk people are doing is hypocritical. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

western b	you know, reading these responses reminds me of an incident in my life while I was attending high school. I was taking a cultural diversity class which broke in the middle for our lunch break. My friends and I (I two of us were white, one Japanese, one Korean and one Filipino) always ate our lunch in the same hallway. This one particular day, a group of five or six kids (mostly African American, possibly a couple Hispanic) Came up to us and told us to "get out of thier hallway!" We weren't looking to have any trouble and so we started gathering our things to leave...they continued to yell at us to get out because they didn't want "crackers in their hallway." Needless to say, we were fairly shaken up by the whole ordeal. After lunch I was back in my cultural diversity class and our teacher was discussing racism. She asked if any of us had personally experienced racism in our lives. I raised my hand and said I had literally JUST experienced it during my lunch break and started recounting the story. The teacher (a white woman) stopped me mid sentence and told me I could NOT have experienced racism because I am white!! Wow! Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

German	I have to agree that it definitely feels like a double standard for sure. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

ssmx10000	No, I came to the realization today its not about race. It's just who you offend. if you piss off the left, then you are bad. You make wild claims that America attacked itself on 9/11 and that the brits who were kidnapped was a ploy to go to war with iran, you are a O.K. But when you cross the line of saying something against a special interest group or brown people you will have a lynch mob after you. It's the differance in the whackos who burned soldiers in effigy and called for America's defeat in Portland OR. and Don Imus Saying "you people". Enough said. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

MikeHunt	I long for the old days when freedom of speech was a constitutional right. Now, If you make politically incorrect comments (even here) about a sensitive group you will be raked over the coals. Meanwhile, crack ho's like in the duke case get off scott free. Oh well, think of it this way at the end of the day the duke boys will do alright (we all know that) and she will never be more than a nasty politically incorrect term that she is with a dozen different semen stains in her drawers. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

boredwithyou	Yes. America's colored folk can say and do whatever they want and due to White Liberal Guilt (WLG) the media and politicians let them get away with it. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

melouofs	It certainly seems that way. I'm sick to death of it! Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Avner Eliyahu R	Unfortunately, it seems to be based on race. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Dawn Davenport	It was not intended to be but it has become totally one sided. White people have to watch every word we say or get attacked by the black special interest groups. I am so sick of it. Listen to the filth and garbage the black rap singers and comedians spew. If a white person said any of that crap, we would be hanging from a tree with a fork in our a$$es. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

permh20	While the constitution says that it is not, based on what is going on more and more lately; I would have to say that it is. What alot of people forget though, is that the 1st ammendment protects freedom of expression, but it does not guarantee freedom from offense. Alot of people now are so prepared to be offended, and want to view anything that they find offensive as illegal, but it doesn't work that way (or at least is not supposed to work that way). Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

stafbrad	Yes I believe it's a double standard...PERIOD. It shouldn't matter if one race is talking about their same race in a negative way. They are still talking negatively about race. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

SICX13	no, you can say whatever you want without fearing recourse as long as it against white people Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

bcjst1more	The Imus thing is a bit overblown. I'm not a Don Imus fan but he has a right to say whatever he wants good or bad. Talk show hosts are all about ratings. Howard Stern offends every time he opens his mouth and nothing is done. As far as race being a factor it sure is. The rappers use language and promote rape. drugs and crime as if it was a medal of honor. As soon as someone that is not a person of color says it that becomes hate speech. The same people who say they are open to freedom of speech are the ones who want to silence the people that disagree with them (the left). Remember it was OK for certain leaders and talk show hosts to call our president and terrorist or compare him to Hitler and nothing was done about it. Blacks can say anything to anybody and it seems to be OK because they still think they are oppressed in this country which is bull. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

leets69	Nobody says that Imus dosen't have the right to say what he did, however when one exercises the freedom of speech that speech is not guaranteed to be free of consequences to the speaker. Could Chris Rock have said the same thing and not have suffered the same consequences? Probably so, but Imus and Rock still would have equal freedom of speech. Freedom of speech only prevents the government's supression of the speech. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

rea4154	no freedom of speech is NOT based on race. However you listen to rappers, naacp, LULAC etc you would think that was the case. A white person cant use the word *** or **** cause we are not AFRICAN AMERICAN. African American people say they use this term to downplay the severity like well claim this word as OURS that way it wont hurt so much when it is used. This is a LOAD OF BS. NAACP and LULAC are the first ones to CLAIM RACISIM if they dont go thier way. Yes I admit racisim is still alive out there in the world I just dont think its as RAMPANT as these groups say it it. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Jamie C	YES ~ Freedom of speech applies to any race other than white people. Whites are now the opressed people in America. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

29 characters to work with......	Absolutely, case in point... Blacks can chant black power without backlash, but if a group of whites would chant white power, oh lordy how the media would have a field day. Not mention honkey, cracker, redneck, yokel are okay, but n----- would probibly get me thrown off this forum. Another case in point, a local paper, sorry the articles are now archived, covered two different events by two different groups. One was the neo-nazis, no prize for guessing how they were represented; deservedly so I guess. The othr article was about the Nation of Islam, which is eqally racist; this group was reffered to as "controversial" while the neos were openly dubbed a hate group. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

eviot44	you don't know you not suppose to say anything for Jews and blacks?? only for Italians-Greeks-Irish-french-Germans-Ind... only those you can have fun with... Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

dangergirl_711	yes. because if Imus is white and the basketball women black. if it was a black guy saying that , they wouldn't have a big uproar about it. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Kel	It certainly seems to be..which is killing "Free" speech. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

ItsJustMe	Interesting question. It seems like some people can say things that are not offensive to them, but if someone else says it, they get offended. I don't understand the double standard - either it is wrong to say something or it's not. ANY derogatory terms are wrong, in my opinion, regardless of who says them to whom. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

risaNaldo	of course it is and its completely rediculous.. what he said crossed the line but still.. i feel because im white i have to watch what i say.. like white power?? yeah all the sudden im a kkk member. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Winston Smith	Race is one factor subliminally (or sometimes, not so) affecting how we look at what others say. So to that extent, in one way, it is. Rappers use racial slurs and sell a million CDs; a radio jock uses a variant of the same racial slurs, and people call for his firing. This is the simplest possible example, very high profile and popular now. I don't think it's good that race influences how you hear what you hear, and what you make of it. But this is undeniably so. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

philyshnides	Why is it okay for African Americans to use the N word all the time but whites cannot say it? I think that answers part of the question Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Princess of the Realm	It seems so. It seems that any time a white person (Don Imus, Howard Cosell, Jimmy the Greek, Mel Gibson, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Richards, etc) say anything, joking or not, or even infer something about another race, there is outrage, screaming, yelling and the demand for their heads on a platter. However, if a black person refers to a white person as cracker, honky, redneck, whitey or anything else, whether it's in a movie, on stage or in your workplace, nothing is ever said about it. No outrage, nada. The worst offenders are the ones that scream racist the loudest and point fingers, Sharpton, Jackson, Farrakhan, et.al. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

RLH	No. Anyone can legally say whatever they like...your not going to be locked up for being a biggot. But what employers, media and average joes will let you say without coming down on you is based on race. It has nothing to do with freedom of speech, but there is definitley a double standard for what is socially acceptable. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Daisy Mae	Yes it is. Blacks can say anything they want (Honky, Cracker, etc.) & no one does anything. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Westhill	Freedom of speech applies to the ability of the government to censor speech, not to whether a private employer can fire someone who insults others. And in the realm of private enterprise, you're likely to be given more latitude if you're insulting your own kind. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

AllahFeatTheMasters	Yes it is a double standard, but freedom of speech is still universal in the United States. He wasn't prosecuted by our government in anyway, just by society and his employer. Double standards in society are very common, and nothing to worry about. Basically it's what the media and the outspoken minorities think is best for us. We give them power by taking them seriously, and they use this power to gain more attention and popularity. It's all of our faults. (Except mine) Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No