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So this past weekend, the little woman and I went to south GA for her orientation into Library Scinece school( finishing up her Master's). After the orientation was over and done with, we were headed home. We entered a town called Adel, GA., in which a local church had rented a billboard stating that "Homosexuality is an abomination". They backed their claim with the usual "scriptural ammo"( Leviticus) . And while neither my gal or myself are gay, we found that shit to be waaaay offensive. It baffled me how this hadn't garnered any media attention.

But then, there' the flip: Free Speech/ First Amendment. Does the Cousinfucker Covenant have the right to spread their garbage via road sign, under the protection of the 1st Amendment? If this is so, are we then to make allowances for other organizations to promote their bigotry?

My personal stake in it all:
A. I am a Christian. Do not attack me for my beliefs, as I'm not the homophobic, hellfire and brimstone variety. And quite simply, I'll fuck yo' shit up if you do
B. I am southern by birth.
And the above being the case, I hate it when motherfuckers do shit like put up homophobic road signs to perpetuate the myth that all southern nonsecular people are douchey, bible-wavin',xenophobic, racist,homophobes with guns. So, help me pu this into perspective, ILF: Ultimately, the right answer is "fuck Adel, GA.", right? But due to free speech, do they have the right? Discuss- and keep it mellow, please. This is potentially a provocative thread. Let reason and intelligence reign

Sadly, this is all considered constitutionally protected speech, and is actually a lot tamer than some other stuff I've heard/seen. The Westboro Baptist Church is the prime example (the picket/protest at military funerals and other awful shit), and many other hate groups are allowed to hold rallies in public places. It's the ugly side of the first amendment, but I'm not really sure there is a way around it.

I dunno man. Sometimes i want to defend the south, sometimes i want to tell people its really not that way and blah blah blah blah....but honestly, the south has never done a single fucking thing for me. I am 100% positive that, had i lived in another environment for the last 10 years my life would be vastly superior, and i may not be the same hateful, drunk, emotionally dead person that i am today. Sure there may be small areas of the south (and for reference, im talking about the carolinas, ga, west virginia, and ala.) that have been improved and have worth to actual human beings, but when investigated, those are usually the work of transplants and never the born and bred. Do i feel that southern people have had it rough and have been taken advantage of by their governments? Yes. Do i feel that theyve done a whole lot to reverse the bullshit that they are famous for? Fuck no. Theres still a bar in my town that has a little mockup of a black guy hanging by a rope over the door.


Edit: This is really a topic that only those who live or have lived in the deep south can understand or comment on. Its all well and good to laugh and actually think that the south is like deliverance...but it takes living here to fully understand that there are still quite a few areas that are EXACTLY like deliverance. Uuuh also im pro gun. Soooooo. Theres that.

Yes it's protected speech and no it's not just in the south. At least homophobia. Racism isn't prevalent up here, and if it is, it's much less blatant.

I don't think free speech is a license for bigotry. It isn't what the first amendment was intended to protect.

I'm not saying you prosecute for it, because while I don't think it is difficult to draw a line somewhere - that depends on a rational person doing the drawing, which isn't always the case - but I don't think it should be condoned for any reason.

This thread just made me think of a story. For you ADD fucks, you can just stop reading now.

Right after college, me and one of my best friends went on a road trip / hiking trip through the whole southeast of the country (we're both from MA). I remember when we crossed into SC seeing those billboards that said "NO JESUS = NO FUTURE" with hellfire in the background and thinking "Holy fucking shit, what are we doing? Are we going to die down here?".

Fast forward to about a week and a half later, we get pulled over on some rinky dink little state highway in northern Alabama, doing exactly the speed limit in a laser blue Subaru WRX with MA license plates. Two fucking humongous black cops walk over to the car and start giving us shit immediately. They say they smell weed in the car, which is bullshit, all they smelled is two smelly 22 year-old guys who have been in a car for two weeks. They ask us if they can search the car. Even though there's nothing illegal in the car, I am paranoid as shit that they're going to plant something on us or make up some bullshit, and we're 1000 miles from home. I say no. They threaten to hold us until a K9 gets there. I say fine by me.

The K9 gets there in about 20 minutes. The whole time, the cops are obviously fucking pissed at us. The K9 "alerts" on the car in about 5 fucking seconds. Of course he does, such fucking bullshit. So the cops spend the next half hour tearing the car apart, unpacking all of our bags and leaving everything thrown about and loose. Then one of them gets to my book collection. Huxley, Crowley, LaVey (hey, I was just out of college). LaVey really fucking set him off. "THE SATANIC BIBLE!!!!!!" The guys eyes were as big as dinner plates, and his hands are shaking holding the fucking thing. I'm thinking to myself "Wait, this guy really is fucking freaked out about this. What the fuck?" Rather than arrest me and fuck with me, they close the car doors and basically let us go. But not before spending the next 20 minutes proselytizing to us with this ridiculous hell and damnation lecture.

Maybe it's just my northern liberal secular academic upbringing, but I had just never been exposed to that sort of mindset before. And it scared the shit out of me.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Westboro Babtist Church (the "God Hates Fags" people) can protest soldiers' funerals under "free speech." So I'd say it falls under free speech.

Personally, I'm torn. It's wrong, but should it be illegal? In their opinion homosexuality is an abomination. In my opinion dicks are like joysticks attached to people that make fighter jet noises when you tug on them, or machine gun noises when you push down on the head... wait... where was I going with this?

Frankly, I don't think the law should be involved in this. The law itself isn't discriminating in this case-- and the worst that's happening is some people are offended. What -would- be awesome, is a counter billboard. That looks a lot like their, but says "Homosexuality is Awesome!" If they have a problem with it, fuck them. Free speech, bitches.

Unless the town would block someone from putting up a gay pride billboard, or god is dumb / flying spaghetti monster billboard, then there really isn't a free speech issue here. But if the town DID try to block one of those billboards, then hell yes sue their dicks off.

bigchiefbc wrote:This thread just made me think of a story. For you ADD fucks, you can just stop reading now.

Right after college, me and one of my best friends went on a road trip / hiking trip through the whole southeast of the country (we're both from MA). I remember when we crossed into SC seeing those billboards that said "NO JESUS = NO FUTURE" with hellfire in the background and thinking "Holy fucking shit, what are we doing? Are we going to die down here?".

Fast forward to about a week and a half later, we get pulled over on some rinky dink little state highway in northern Alabama, doing exactly the speed limit in a laser blue Subaru WRX with MA license plates. Two fucking humongous black cops walk over to the car and start giving us shit immediately. They say they smell weed in the car, which is bullshit, all they smelled is two smelly 22 year-old guys who have been in a car for two weeks. They ask us if they can search the car. Even though there's nothing illegal in the car, I am paranoid as shit that they're going to plant something on us or make up some bullshit, and we're 1000 miles from home. I say no. They threaten to hold us until a K9 gets there. I say fine by me.

The K9 gets there in about 20 minutes. The whole time, the cops are obviously fucking pissed at us. The K9 "alerts" on the car in about 5 fucking seconds. Of course he does, such fucking bullshit. So the cops spend the next half hour tearing the car apart, unpacking all of our bags and leaving everything thrown about and loose. Then one of them gets to my book collection. Huxley, Crowley, LaVey (hey, I was just out of college). LaVey really fucking set him off. "THE SATANIC BIBLE!!!!!!" The guys eyes were as big as dinner plates, and his hands are shaking holding the fucking thing. I'm thinking to myself "Wait, this guy really is fucking freaked out about this. What the fuck?" Rather than arrest me and fuck with me, they close the car doors and basically let us go. But not before spending the next 20 minutes proselytizing to us with this ridiculous hell and damnation lecture.

Maybe it's just my northern liberal secular academic upbringing, but I had just never been exposed to that sort of mindset before. And it scared the shit out of me.

I cant believe they didnt beat you for 20 mins before they let you go. A cop down here has kicked my ass for wearing the wrong tshirt. White cops go hard as ashit on white kids because apparently "yer the wunz let this here n-word take over derp derp derp"

The funny thing is that I'm sure they intended to scare us. And they did. But probably not in the way they meant to. Their intention was probably to scare us into accepting jesus blah blah blah. Instead, they made us think "holy shit, southern christians are fucking scary".

I live in Charleston, SC. I moved here from Illinois about 12 years ago. I see the most racist and homophobic shit everyday, but I am also surprised often by how liberal some of the most redneck looking motherfuckers are. Charleston is like the nyc of SC so I know things are a little better here then in the rest of the state. The south in general is a fucked up place, but I love it.

doomfuzz wrote:I live in Charleston, SC. I moved here from Illinois about 12 years ago. I see the most racist and homophobic shit everyday, but I am also surprised often by how liberal some of the most redneck looking motherfuckers are. Charleston is like the nyc of SC so I know things are a little better here then in the rest of the state. The south in general is a fucked up place, but I love it.

Man fuck charleston. Maybe its the nyc if you like getting stuck in traffic all the fucking time. Columbia is a piece of shit too honestly. Greenville is the only acceptable place to live.

McSpunckle wrote:Frankly, I don't the law should be involved in this

Reluctantly agree. I mean, as much as I hate those people/sentiments and wish nobody did it, they need to keep the right to voice their opinion just on principle. I also have the right to hate those bigoted assholes though, like if I ran a billboard/advertising company or whatever it is I would tell these sorts of people to fuck right off, and if I met somebody who started saying this kinda crap I'd call them out on it.

Is the southern US really as bad as some people are saying (I mean in general, I'm sure there are plenty of nice bits and nice people)?

I lived in North Carolina for two years in the '80's, but that's about as far as my Southern experience goes. That said, I did grow up in the Northeastern parts of Maine, and let me tell you, there was plenty of crazy, racist, homophobic stuff to be found out there as well... though never on any billboards that I saw...

jrmy wrote:I lived in North Carolina for two years in the '80's, but that's about as far as my Southern experience goes. That said, I did grow up in the Northeastern parts of Maine, and let me tell you, there was plenty of crazy, racist, homophobic stuff to be found out there as well... though never on any billboards that I saw...

3 NAILS 1 CROSS 4 GIVEN

monkeydancer wrote:Is the southern US really as bad as some people are saying (I mean in general, I'm sure there are plenty of nice bits and nice people)?

How do you feel about domestic violence and frequent, public use of the n-word? Yeah theres nice bits but theyre like little rocks in the middle of the lavaflow of third world ignorance that is 90% of the south.