Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Ridge Road: Free Speech or Hate Speech?

Local artist and resident of  Middletown David Schulz for years has used his front yard as a way of advertising his political views & musings. Currently on the front yard of his Ridge Road residence located diagonally across the street from Farm Hill Elementary School's main entrance, Schulz has signs displayed aligning the Tea Party with the Taliban terrorist organization. Schulz's opinion is protected by the First Amendment.

Like the Nazi regime, the Taliban's name is synonymous is known for global atrocities of unfathomable magnitude. Are there certain lines that should not be crossed and who decides? Do double standards exist?
 The 3  signs on Schulz's lawn read:  
"The Taliban doesn't need 
to destroy American,
 the Tea Party is doing it for them."
We ask readers to comment. What if this were your neighbor?
 Free Speech or Hate Speech?
Free speech or hate speech? Click to enlarge



16 comments:

  1. Every town has one of these people, usually they have 50 or so cats.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Is it ok for republicans to call President Obama a nazi and have signs of him with a Hitler mustache? Was it ok when the democrats did it to President Bush? In both cases accusing the men of being similar to the person who orchestrated the destruction of most of Europe and was responsible for the deaths of millions of men, women, and children.

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  3. I think David is an activist, but he is also very liberal in his politics which is okay. The issue I have had with David is the fact that he ignores the Mayor's attitude (Pro) towards developer Bob Landino because Drew is a Democrat. WHere are his anti-Drew signs??? This is local stuff and happening in our back yard (66), but David looks the other way and knocks some Republican thing or not. I wish David would take a large look around him and go after the real people in power sine 1993: The DEMS!

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  4. Hah! I drive by this guy's house sometimes when I go home. I think he is being his own worst enemy. I have my own political views but I'm pretty sure I'm not going get people to agree with me by bashing others... He seems like a hater, no respect in his veins.

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  5. Free speech is fine but the speech he uses along with others in Washington DC and elsewhere isn't helping and causes a bigger divide between the two parties.

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  6. It is a delightful irony to listen to the Insider complain about "hate speech". If it weren't for hate speech this blog would be nothing more that an occasional community service announcement.

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  7. If you read our post more carefully you will see we do not call this hate speech simply pose the question for discussion. It is up to readers to decide if likening a non violent political group to a radical group that is known for beheading people on camera is acceptable.

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  8. It is beyone irony that the Insider would request input on the issue of hate speech.

    Is this the same insider that published (Oct.18) an anonymous article that attacked, by name, individual citizens in Middletonw using lies, rumors, inneundo disguesed as comdey?

    Until the Middletown Insider identifies its writers I will assume it reflects the views of the Middletown Republican Party.

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  9. I don't agree with what he has posted, but he has a right to do so.

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  10. If you read the signs more carefully you will see that they do not liken the Tea Party to the Taliban. They simply raise the point that by destroying America the Tea Party is crossing an item off of the Taliban's things to do list.

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  11. This blog is not associated political party. We are a group of volunteer bloggers.

    Agreed Mr. Carta, it is Mr. Schulz's right to free speech.

    Anon. 10:50 - Interesting interpretation- it is good to see a different way of reading the signs.

    The photo of his lawn and signs were posted as an observation and for discussion purposes.

    We welcome all discussion in the comment section for this post and all our other posts.

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  12. People said the same thing about the Clash when they first came out with their lyrical commentary. I say, "It's OK to rock the casbah"

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  13. Until I see Dan Drew's Bio for re-election or any handful of Democrats Bios for running for office on this blog I and the community as a whole will reflect this blog as a crybaby republican blog.

    Asking the question if Ridge road is hate speech is instigating the insinuation.

    As another comment has pointed out the author of the signs isn't comparing the Tea Party to the Taliban, but comparing the tactics they implement to get what they want.

    The Tea Party recently has been much more dangerous and damaging. Taking the American economy, the world economy, hostage to fight a law that has passed both houses, signed by the POTUS, and cleared by the supreme court is reckless. Ignoring the foundation of our constitution is as UN-Americana as it gets. All three branches of government gave a green light to the ACA.

    ReplyDelete
  14. We will gladly post any candidate bios sent to us. We have received and posted bios from Republican and Realistic Balance candidates because that is what we received.

    We will not be chasing down candidates or typing their bios for them, or going to websites and reformatting for publication. See our previous post about criteria to submit a bio. The same goes for fundraisers or press releases.

    Subject of postings are at the digression of the bloggers and cater to what we feel our readers would like to read. We feel we fill a void of subject matter not covered by other local media sources; as a privately run blog we do not have to cater to everyone.

    We do publish comments that we may or may not agree with; something other sites do not.

    The offer to publish bios was put out there a month ago and we have published what we received.

    Thank you for reading and participating in the conversation.

    ReplyDelete
  15. BY POSTING THAT THE TEA PARTY USES TACTICS LIKE THE TALIBAN INSINUATES THEY ARE LIKE THE TALIBAN! The signs can be read a number of ways! and By bringing it up for discussion is ugly? Come on?!! The press and eye are the cheerleaders for the Democrats and Drew has them on speed dial! Give me a break!

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  16. Dear Anon 1:55

    You didn't understand what I wrote, or I didn't make myself clear.

    The Taliban and the Tea Party don't use the same "exact" tactics. They use fear and take things hostage in an attempt to try to get what they want.

    Different groups, different ideals, but both try and use last ditch, straw grasping efforts to get their way.

    ReplyDelete

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