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A municipal court judge in New Jersey who apparently doesn't understand either the First Amendment or local ordinances has just ordered a resident to take down some f-bomb-laden signs from her yard. (h/t Peter Bonilla)
A municipal judge on Thursday ruled that a Roselle Park homeowner’s owner’s anti- President Biden flags including the F-bomb on her fence were obscene and must be removed because they violated a borough ordinance.
Roselle Park Municipal Court Judge Gary Bundy ordered the Willow Avenue homeowner to remove the signs with profanity within a week or face a $250-a-day fine. Patricia Dilascio is the property owner but her daughter, Andrea Dick, had the signs, three of which include the F-word, on display.
The signs, which can be seen in this photo, are certainly colorful in terms of language, and very definitely convey their owner's displeasure with the current regime.
(More information in link to original article.)
Opinion:
The first amendment absolutely prevents the government from censoring your speech, ESPECIALLY political speech. That is its entire purpose. ESPECIALLY political speech. Because we no longer have a king, nor do we want one. (unless it is Trump)
The 1st amendment does not limit private property owners, nor corporations from controlling their own platforms and moderating as they see fit. But it absolutely does (A) limit government, and (B) ESPECIALLY when you are displaying speech from YOUR OWN property (not someone else's property, where they could choose to not allow your speech on their property).
If people do not like Biden, they should have the right to say so as loudly and even offensively as they wish. (clue: a clear non offensive message can be more persuasive) A mildly offensive message can be effective in expressing one's outrage, without suggesting any intention of harm.
The problem here seems to be that there is a town law which forbids the use of offensive language. I like to avoid such words, for example, not using them on SN (other than quoting someone) because IMO it lowers the intelligence level. But that's just my preference. I happen to understand that other people are fine with using such language.
Perhaps this law should be focused on offensive messages rather than specific language or words. An obscene message is one thing. An F-bomb may be something different entirely, even if it could have been better worded.
In the 1977 Star Wars movie, after R2D2 emits a series of tweedle-beeps, C3P0 tells R2D2 "you watch your language", without needing say something like "watch your F'ing language".
N.J. woman must remove anti-Biden F-bomb signs or face $250-a-day fines, judge rules
F-bomb, bird flipping anti-Biden flags outside house near N.J. school infuriate neighbors
N.J. homeowner with F-bomb, anti-Biden flags ticketed, given court date
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Socrastotle on Friday July 23 2021, @06:27PM
Can you not see what you are saying, becoming? In an effort to confirm your own biases, you're trying to argue that "fuck politician" not only directly appeals to the prurient interest, but also depicts or describes sexual conduct, and has no political value. And then you want to argue that the government forcing you to censor your statements under threat of imprisonment is not censorship. And it's not censorship because the government said you can't say that...
Can't you see that the "bad guys" in all of the countless horrible events in our history always saw themselves as the good guys? They would demonize their "opponents", and then rationalize every single action they carried out. Are we the baddies? [youtube.com] How many times do you think this event, far less comically, has genuinely played out throughout history? People get so worked up in their own biases, beliefs, and rationalizations, that they begin to lose contact with any sort of reality and simply replace it with whatever they see fit. Can you imagine the you of 10 years ago believing you would be arguing this sort of stuff today?
Do you not understand that "you" (in the general sense) are driving us towards the same sort of regressive behaviors, values, and attitudes that always result in humanity taking 2 steps forward and then 2 steps backwards? Over and over and over. The few grand achievements we have managed, including the defacto end of slavery, have been little more than a product of technological progress. So bemusing!