Should bad opinions be censored?

[LandofWarriorWitch]

Opinions are like bellybuttons. Everyone has them. Whether they are right or wrong is purely subjective.

[Great Nepal]

I think there are limits to free speech,and every country including the US has them.

The moment there is any limit to free speech, it becomes stops being free.

Inciting people to commit genocide I think is not acceptable.Treason is another example.

Shouting about it, is acceptable. Attempting to commit genocide or treason however isn't.

Personally I don't think outright lying should be allowed, so people should be able to be challenged in court. I would like to have Fred Phelps legally prove that God hates fags or shut up.

Unless said lie directly harms another person, it again falls under free speech - speaking should never be restricted.

[Dachshundia]

Who decides what is or isn't a "bad opinion" ?

i agree. what kind of stupid question is this. sorry if your offended.

[Realleth]

I support free speech. I think it is one of our greatest freedoms that we have. However, there are some groups who use it to gather cult followings based on outright lies. You have all heard of them. There are people who think the earth is flat, people who think we never went to the moon, people who think dinosaurs and human beings walked among each other, people who STILL think Obama is a muslim.

I'm inclined to believe that being a part of a cult is a much-needed freedom, same as the freedom of speech. Hey, I don't believe in God and even if he would exist, I think he'd be outright evil [for ignoring human matters and leting everyone kill each-other in extremely brutal ways isn't exactly what I think a divine being should do] - but that's my right, my right to believe that God shouldn't be worshipped, that Catholic Church shouldn't have any material property and that the gold in cathedrals is direcly bought from the blood of Aztecs... but that's just my opinion, and even though you may consider it evil, stupid, unworthy or whatever, it's not a thing for which I should be judged by anything else that morality alone.

Ban other people's opinions, censor "bad" opinions, and you ban Freedom. Everyone sees everything in a different matter, and what you consider bad doesn't need to be so. I hate hip-hop, I love Metal. But I'd NEVER ban or censor rap, hip-hop or techno!

Realleth

[Maineiacs]

No, they should be ridiculed.

This.

[Kandorith]

The word OPINION

says more than enough. An opinion is neither good nor bad, it's all a matter of perspective.

[West Failure]

I think there are limits to free speech,and every country including the US has them.

The moment there is any limit to free speech, it becomes stops being free.

So your argument is that until I am free to name all MI6's undercover agents there is no free speech in the UK?

[Great Nepal]

The moment there is any limit to free speech, it becomes stops being free.

So your argument is that until I am free to name all MI6's undercover agents there is no free speech in the UK?

Yes, unless you have signed a contract with M16, binding you to secrecy. And, if you know names without signing that contract - I will doubt effusiveness of M16 in first place.

[West Failure]

So your argument is that until I am free to name all MI6's undercover agents there is no free speech in the UK?

Yes, unless you have signed a contract with M16, binding you to secrecy. And, if you know names without signing that contract - I will doubt effusiveness of M16 in first place.

MI6 have never been particularly gushy and emotional.

[Dagnia]

I'm surprised there is even a discussion on this. The opinions suggested for censoring by the OP (flat-earth people, moon-landing conspiracy theorists...) are mostly ideas that are totally laughable. The one about Obama being a Muslim could even be dangerous to censor, for reasons I will now go into.
The truth does not need to be forced on people and lies don't need to be suppressed. If someone is suppressing an opinion, I am usually inclined to think that opinion is true, unless there is a major reason not to (like communism was suppressed in some places, but where communists came to power, they usually suppressed all other ideologies). If people are free to express any opinion in any way, without the government suppressing certain opinions through censorship or giving some an unfair advantage through subsidized media, the truth will eventually be known by most of the people. And yes, there will be some people who will never see the light. Why else would people stick to religions when we have science?

[Ovisterra]

Hell no! "Bad" is a completely relative concept. Whoever you put in charge will use the system for their own means, obviously. This is exactly what the two internet censorship bills in the US are trying to do.

[SaintB]

Stupid/bad ideas should be out in the open so that they can ridiculed and mocked for what they really are. In the shadows is where bad opinions and ideas thrive.

[Sidhae]

Well, what's the point of even allowing to state opinions, if they are censored? If there's an opinion everyone must agree with, there's no point in giving "heretics" a chance to say otherwise.

[Brettaina]

Technically it is an opinion to say an opinion's bad and I do belive freedom of speech even if in your opinion you think thats guys crazy

[Fort Locria]

No. I'm pretty much an absolutist on free speech.

If you think "insane conspiracy theorists", people who have been "disproven" by science, people who don't hold "good opinions", etc, should be censored, then you don't support free speech. The whole point of free speech is that it allows people to say things you and others would rather they didn't say. It's only an issue insofar as people are expressing things that others are uncomfortable with.

[Gladia]

Technically it is an opinion to say an opinion's bad and I do belive freedom of speech even if in your opinion you think thats guys crazy

Translation: Technically, it's an opinion to say that someone else' s opinion is bad. I believe in freedom of speech, even if you think the other person has a bad opinion.