4 ms·
The right to free speech includes the right to be silent.
by maxharris 14y ago
The right to free speech includes the right to be silent.
- rapind 14y agoHuh? These are corporations running studies, then selectively submitting only the most positives results to a federal regulation body who's responsible for determining whether or not the product is safe for consumption. What does free speech have to do with it?
- svachalek 14y agoThis is the U.S.; corporations have a protected right to free speech.
- npsimons 14y agoWhich is just another example of how badly broken the legal system is in the U.S.
- maxharris 14y agoCorporations consist of individuals that voluntarily associate with one another. A man has the right to free speech when he is alone, and he retains that same right as he forms and maintains his compacts with others. Free speech means that you communicate what you want, when you want, if you want. (Quick aside, with two points: First, the right to free speech doesn't guarantee you the means of broadcasting your views. Such a "right" would mean enslaving those tasked with providing those means, violating their actual rights. Second, not all utterances constitute speech: the words a mafia boss uses to order the beating of a recalcitrant shopkeeper or the murder of a rival are not examples of speech.)
- chalst 14y agoDrug companies may exercise the right not to provide information to the NDA (or whoever), but they won't get their drugs approved. You do not, for comparison, have the right to obtain a passport while exercising your right to silence in response to the information requests from the issuing authority.