Fighting words : individuals, communities, and liberties of speech

Bibliographic Information

Fighting words : individuals, communities, and liberties of speech

Kent Greenawalt

Princeton University Press, c1995

  • : pbk

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780691026008

Description

Should "hate speech" be made a criminal offense, or does the First Amendment oblige Americans to permit the use of epithets directed against a person's race, religion, ethnic origin, gender, or sexual preference? Does a campus speech code enhance or degrade democratic values? When the American flag is burned in protest, what rights of free speech are involved? In a lucid and balanced analysis of contemporary court cases dealing with these problems, as well as those of obscenity and workplace harassment, acclaimed First Amendment scholar Kent Greenawalt now addresses a broad general audience of readers interested in the most current free speech issues.

Table of Contents

PrefaceCh. 1Introduction: Free Speech Themes3Ch. 2General Principles of Free Speech Adjudication in the United States and Canada11Ch. 3Flag Burning28Ch. 4Insults, Epithets, and "Hate Speech"47Ch. 5Campus Speech Codes and Workplace Harassment71Ch. 6Obscenity99Ch. 7Individuals and Communities124Ch. 8Conclusion: General Lessons150Notes155Index183
Volume

ISBN 9780691036380

Description

Should "hate speech" be made a criminal offence, or does the First Amendment oblige Americans to permit the use of epithets directed against a person's race, religion, ethnic origin, gender, or sexual preference? Does a campus speech code enhance or degrade democratic values? When someone burns an American flag or a draft card to express dismay with US policy, what rights of free speech are involved? In a balanced analysis of contemporary court cases dealing with these problems, as well as those of obscenity and workplace harassment, First Amendment scholar Kent Greenawalt aims to address a broad general audience of readers interested in the most current free-speech issues. For a number of purposes, Greenawalt finds it instructive to compare US and Canadian jurisprudence. He points out, for instance, that the theory under which the Canadian Supreme Court supports suppression of obscenity is strikingly in line with the claims of those feminists who regard obscenity as a major evil: equality, especially the aspirations to equality of groups victimized in the past, rates highly as a constitutional value in Canada. In addition to discussing the sometimes conflicting claims of those seeking freedom of speech and those working to promote equality and protect citizens from oppression, Greenawalt looks at what speech does as well as what it says. He also compares the importance of the motive of the speaker to the actual effect of speech on its audience.

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