AOL sued for language

AOL sued for language in chat rooms

Of all the ignorant, idiotic, overbearing, close-minded, tea-tottling, militaristic, bone-headed, asanine moves...

An American citizen sueing a company based in the United States over things that were being said.

Said.

Said.

Let me repeat that:

Said.

How did this person make it out into public if they failed 4th grade history class. Which they surely must have if they have never heard of freedom of speech, one of the founding requirements of this country.

To support what I would weakly call their 'argument', they cite a portion of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits "discrimination in public accommodations".

Ohhhhhhhkay.

Would Mr. Noah please explain to me when and how the discrimination occured? Speech is not discrimination.

Discrimination is an action taken to prevent someone else from exercising their rights. There is no way in a chat room to prevent other people from talking. Therefore there is no way anyone could have commited discrimination.

Was there hateful speech and ignorant views expressed. Damn right. That's the best part of being an American. You can make a complete jackass of yourself whenever and wherever you want.

Considering this, the idea that a chatroom is a public gathering space and needs to be protected -- well, that argument just falls apart. All parties had equal access to the chat room and equal opportunity to express their views.

It's been said many times in many spaces, but apparently not quite enough:

Freedom of speech is not truley valuable or even needed unless it is protecting the expression of the most heinous of thoughts.

Any speech that is so whitewashed as to not offend anyone is very likely to be so damn boring I don't even want to hear it.

So fuck you all. Be offended.