ISIS Influence on Web Prompts Second Thoughts About the First Amendment
Recently ISIS online recruiting has been extremely successful. This has raised many concerns about the First Amendment, which allows free speech as long as there is no clear or present danger.
Many politicians and legal scholars are saying that the US government should work to block the sites that have jihadist chat rooms or YouTube videos that have lectures by Anwar al-Awlaki, who radicalized the attacks in San Bernandino, California, and other places. A few legal scholars say that the US government should extend the First Amendment to allow blocking of messages that incite terrorists attacks.
I believe that this should be done. Free speech is good, but it can be taken too far, like the terrorists. However, in history, under pressure, many times 'rational' decisions have been made that seemed good at the time but were actually horrible mistakes. The argument could easily be shaped into an argument against any dissenting viewpoints, which would create a horrible world.
I still think that blocking terrorists is a good idea, but it is a slippery slope.
Many politicians and legal scholars are saying that the US government should work to block the sites that have jihadist chat rooms or YouTube videos that have lectures by Anwar al-Awlaki, who radicalized the attacks in San Bernandino, California, and other places. A few legal scholars say that the US government should extend the First Amendment to allow blocking of messages that incite terrorists attacks.
I believe that this should be done. Free speech is good, but it can be taken too far, like the terrorists. However, in history, under pressure, many times 'rational' decisions have been made that seemed good at the time but were actually horrible mistakes. The argument could easily be shaped into an argument against any dissenting viewpoints, which would create a horrible world.
I still think that blocking terrorists is a good idea, but it is a slippery slope.
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