Wednesday, March 25, 2009

"Flippin' the Bird" is Protected Speech

And it should be!

Maybe you just assumed that the hand signal for "f--- off" is protected speech under the law. After all, what's more American than for no other reason than you want to...looking someone in the eye, raising your hand and flipping them the middle finger? How could that not be "free speech?"

Well, today it appears we've received some clarification on the issue as a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania found in favor of a guy who gave the bird to a motorist and a cop. The judge said that the gesture was a non-verbal expression protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Click here for a report on this from ace legal writer and blogger, Robert Ambrogi.

In the end, I'm certainly not in favor of giving the finger to people...but by God, when the time is right and the need is there, I'm glad to know that it's my right protected by the Constitution.

2 comments:

Charles said...

As I sit here doing my taxes; I will be taking this news under advisement.

Marc said...

Ha! Too true. F the tax man!