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April 07, 2003

Free speech?

I'm not sure how I feel about this ruling from the Supreme Court:

WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court upheld a state ban on cross burning, ruling Monday that the history of racial intimidation attached to this symbol outweighs the free speech protection of Ku Klux Klansmen or others.

On one hand, I think if it is your cross on your property, then it's your right to do with it as you wish. On the other hand, a burning cross is easily interpreted as a threat of physical violence against a specific person or persons, which is and should be illegal.

Thoughts?

I wonder how long until someone tries to compare my desire to prevent physical violence among citizens to my support for a war in Iraq. I give it a couple hours, tops. As I've previously covered the issue of using coercion to instill property rights versus the use of coercion to violate property rights, I won't bother doing it again.