Guess we’re referring to the First Amendment as the “right to offend” now…
Via Townhall:
With Muhammad cartoons back in the forefront, it’s resurrected a debate within the media about free speech. So, what are the numbers? In the aftermath of the horrific Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris last winter, 60 percent of Americans said it was “okay” to publish cartoons of Muhammad. Moreover, an overwhelming majority said that people should have “the right to say what they believe even if they take positions that seem deeply offensive to most people.” Yet, there is a caveat (via WaPo):
However, American support for pushing First Amendment boundaries is not absolute. Last year the First Amendment Center found that nearly 40 percent of Americans say the First Amendment “goes too far” in the rights it guarantees, a near-record high. And in 2010 the survey found that while a majority of Americans — 53 percent — said people should be allowed to say things in public that are offensive to religious groups, fewer (44 percent) said the same about speech that is offensive to racial groups.
Some in the media seem to be channeling the sentiment of the former in the First Amendment Center Survey…
