Our Bill of Rights

[BobD]

One of the moderators on the Wood Carving Illustrated Message Board wrote this. I really liked it, and thought it would be good to post it over here too!

Originally Posted by Lora S. Irish

There is an old adage in our country (the US) about "getting on your Soap Box". This terminology comes from our Bill of Rights and our right to free speech in our nation.

Now ... one of my little stories ...

We do not, under the Bill of Rights, have the right to say whatever we want to whenever we want to, no matter who it hurts - that is a Myth.

We have the right to express our opinions, ideas and even to protest as long as it is on open public property, is neither liable or slanderous, and as long as it does not insight a riot or cause physical harm to another being.

This right extends only to public domain. The rights of a Private Property Owner out weights the right of an individual to express their ideas … meaning … You can scream FIRE to your hearts content in the middle of the public park but you sure can not inside a theatre!

So you have the right to protest - loudly - a law or court order or court judgment or a political ideology and even to express your religious ideas. But you do not have the right to do so inside the court house where you will disrupt the processing.

So the court house guard kept a wooden Soap Box by the front doors of the Court House. Anyone who wanted to could ask for that Soap Box, set it up in the Court Yard, stand on it and scream away to their hearts content.

So you can march in the streets, hold rallies in the park and even post flyers to telephone poles (please get a permit first).

You can not go into another person's church and start screaming from the pulpit about your politics. You can't go into a grocery store and hold a sit-down protest about the death penalty. And you can't stand inside the lobby of a Doctor's office and rage about the War in Iraq! In fact you can not go into any of those places and express your opinions without the permission and approval of the property owner!

Basic Facts

1. This forum is a privately owned website. It is owned, operated and the sole property of one entity - Fox Chapel Publishing.

2. It is not a government service, government agency or public property.

3. This forum has one sole purpose - to promote the hobby and craft of wood carving and those crafts that support the wood carving world as pyrography and scroll saw work.

4. This forum is provide to us for our use, free of charge, paid for and managed by Fox Chapel as a free service that we as members need to protect and support.

Simple Truths

1. When you signed up for this forum you made a click agreement with the owner of this website that:

a. You would not post anything that was offensive as Spam, vulgarity and pornography.

b. That you would not post anything that has been determine by our "Bill of Rights" to be disturbing or destructive to the community atmosphere.

c. That you acknowledged the right of the forum owner to delete any post that they believed was offense or inappropriate to the forum members and/or inappropriate to the welfare of the community.

d. That you acknowledged that the owner of the site has the sole rights to interrupt what they consider to be appropriate or inappropriate.

e. That you acknowledge and recognized the purpose of this forum is for the promotion of wood carving by sharing our experiences, techniques and ideas.

2. As the sole owner of this website is located within the US, US laws apply to this forum. You do have the right of free speech in this country, however, under the same laws you can not do so on private property without the full consent of the property owner. Your right of free speech is limited to open public domains.

You can scream "Fire" in the middle of a public street - you can not scream "Fire" in a privately owned theatre.

2. You can protest a court judgment or ruling on the court house steps which are considered public property. You can not do so inside the court room as this is a closed domain.

3. You have the right to protest and to public peaceful gatherings in opposition. You do not have the right to insight a riot, either on public property, public domain or private property.

Now ... what does all this mean .... ????

Thank you for listening!

Susan Irish

[CanadianScroller]

That is a fine piece of work. About the most sense I have seen on the workings of a forum.
Thanks for posting it here and thanks to Lora for writing it.

[Greenfield_Bob]

I'll second that and thank you Lora.

Bob

In regards to the first part of the letter. I'd like to put in a shorter form:

Our liberty is not the right to do what we please, but rather, the opportunity to do that which is right.

[Paul S WI]

Bravo. That says it all.

[PuzzledMoose]

Sounds very reasonable to me - I think the majority of folks on here already abide by those suggestions anyhow ..

Hey maybe we need an external link to a "soapbox" site ....

[GrayBeard Phil]

Well written. Bravo!

Thanks for cross posting, Bob.

Phil

[Mackem]

Sounds good to me.

[Marcel in Longueuil]

It goes to common sense.

Don't do to others what you don't want done to you.

Thanks for the post Bob

[bearfretworks]

Originally Posted by Marcel in Longueuil

Don't do to others what you don't want done to you.

Excellent comment Marcel!