Banning Speech

Banning Speech

Governments banning uncivilized speech is prohibited by the US
Constitution. But since there is such strong opposition to hateful and hurtful
speech why is it that only words that homosexuals, women and African Americans
find offensive banned? Why are police, prosecutors, politicians and journalists
permitted to utter hateful irrational speech about persons with disabilities
every day?
Saying there is "a history of mental illness" in courts repeated in the
media is a negative stereotyping that is accepted by the above-named three
groups. US Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA) when he was District Attorney of Norfolk
County, MA, said, "There is no history of mental illness." about a suspect
accused of homicide, as if that would explain the alleged crime.
Why are only words that some groups find offensive proposed for banning?
The dictionary defines this as bigotry.

Roy Bercaw, Editor ENOUGH ROOM

August 7, 2007
It’s a Female Dog, or Worse. Or Endearing. And Illegal?
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
The New York Times

The New York City Council, which drew national headlines when it passed a
symbolic citywide ban earlier this year on the use of the so-called n-word, has
turned its linguistic (and legislative) lance toward a different slur: bitch.

The term is hateful and deeply sexist, said Councilwoman Darlene Mealy of
Brooklyn, who has introduced a measure against the word, saying it creates “a
paradigm of shame and indignity” for all women.

But conversations over the last week indicate that the “b-word” (as it is
referred to in the legislation) enjoys a surprisingly strong currency — and even
some defenders — among many New Yorkers.

And Ms. Mealy admitted that the city’s political ruling class can be guilty of
its use. As she circulated her proposal, she said, “even council members are
saying that they use it to their wives.”

The measure, which 19 of the 51 council members have signed onto, was prompted
in part by the frequent use of the word in hip-hop music. Ten rappers were cited
in the legislation, along with an excerpt from an 1811 dictionary that defined
the word as “A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation that can be
given to an English woman.”

While the bill also bans the slang word “ho,” the b-word appears to have
acquired more shades of meaning among various groups, ranging from a term of
camaraderie to, in a gerund form, an expression of emphatic approval. Ms. Mealy
acknowledged that the measure was unenforceable, but she argued that it would
carry symbolic power against the pejorative uses of the word. Even so, a number
of New Yorkers said they were taken aback by the idea of prohibiting a term that
they not only use, but do so with relish and affection.

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