Rocketpig: "That's the entire problem... Yes, these people "invited" this on themselves. Yes, they're ignorant. But arbitrary lines drawn in the sand aren't an acceptable solution either because then you have to ask the question "who gets to draw the line?" and that creates another set of questions with no good answers..."

Hey Rocketpig do you feel that people are becoming more interested in just testing what they can say, rather than saying anything of import? Or is the act of testing free speech, the whole point of having free speech.

I just keep seeing things like this story (I know its the kids name, but the other one is called Aryan Nation ---I mean should I be able to adopt and call my son or daughter the n word?) about free speech and people with little common sense, hiding behind it because they can. Partly I blame the media, because it fuels this fire of nonsense. I'm pretty sure most of these people would lose interest if they couldn't get their ridiculous messages out.

This reminds me of that Christmas thing in Washington. They let people put up an Atheist Sign and now someone wants to put up a festivus pole. Personally I think its just more dumb people. Even though I'm not a Christian or anything I can see how one would take offense because its an attempt to denigrate ones beliefs.
Question:
Do people actually do this stuff just to see if they can do it, get their fifteen minutes of fame, and when does free speech impose on another. ( Naming a child seems to be something that would fall under speech, I guess because you would be constantly saying it in public [in the white supremacists case, to push their agenda] writing it down, having it in the school year book etc.)

Can you restrict what names are given to a child? Who would have thought this would be a relevant discussion. (Although this is just an aberration and not the norm.)

Excellent points again, jv. I meant to respond to your first post and didn't get around to it. Without knowing them, I absolutely believe these people named their children what they did as much for the shock value as what they actually believe, which brings up an interesting debate of "when does free speech/action become inflammatory for the sake of being inflammatory?", which is more akin to defending one's yelling of "fire" in a crowded theatre than it is any kind of political statement.

It's a slippery slope. I'm more inclined on the personal freedom side of things and to stay off that slope as much as possible, but it's a tough call to make, especially for something as inconsequential and probably attention-grabbing flamebait as this situation.

As for the Christmas thing, the Atheist Pole is bullshit. Pure and simple. I'm not religious in the slightest bit (actually, I despise almost all organized religions) but any attempt to push in on a religious holiday (when your "religion" has no link to the time/date of any kind) is slimy and frankly, insulting to Christians. You want to fight for a Chanukkah monument? Rock it, that's an important holiday for Jews. Eid al-Hada or Hajj? Again, go for it. That time has significance to Muslims as well. Not to distract from this already tangential conversation, but that's one of my biggest problems with many Atheists and Agnostics: their ultimate desire is not to celebrate their own beliefs, but instead to bring down others' beliefs to their "level". It's petty and shows just how intellectually "enlightened" many of those people really are.

Anyway, to bring it back around, no. You cannot restrict childrens' names in any way, shape, or form. Preventing people from publicly espousing stupidity does not cure the stupidity itself, nor will it cure one damned problem in society. All it does is whitewash that ignorance and push it underground, where it will ultimately fester and probably turn violent at one point or another. Let the ignorance rain loud and proud. The only thing a free society can do is educate the vast majority and hope for the best.

Yeah good point. I think if we've seen anything with many government mandated things, it does spark vitriol. Are you one who gets behind the idea that the segregation of blacks in the United States was in part due to the nature of their emancipation (force- not a buyout or something of that nature). I heard this argument before because someone was mentioning European countries that outlawed slavery with less problems and less backlash.
Or do you think it is because of the infrastructure that surrounded slavery?

Just curious and didn't mean to move off-topic, butit seems that when Governments try to expedite something through mandates they get a lot of blowback, often exacerbating the problem.

wow, I seriously feel sorry for that kid.

However, they should have made the cake. That is discrimination and should not be tolerated. I guarantee you if it had been a little Muslim boy named "Osama Bin Laden", which is a regular Muslim name, they would be in a lawsuit right now with many supporters for this ridicules stance.

Actually, I believe the muslims regard Christ as a holy man of some sort -  just not as holy as mohammed.  So, no spitting would be had.

We do. He is a prophet and the Messiah to us as well. In fact there are many Muslims named 'Isra' which is Jesus' name in Arabic.

Why'd everyone ignore me saying it...

Ah well.

What if he was named Osama Bin Laden Campbell? That's where I see a difference, they named their children to promote their beliefs for the Aryan Nation and Adolf Hitler's ideal. They brought this upon themselves and the mother acts like she never expected these names to cause controversy, she's a huge hypocrite.

Which is exactly why I said I feel sorry for the kid. He's gonna have a horrible life because his parents are a bunch of douche bags. At least they could have brought him up as a bigot without the name setting precedence.

Still, it isn't acceptable for an innocent 3yr old to be screwed out of a awesome cake just because his parents are douches. The business should just accept the money and make the cake instead of being discriminatory.

That's the thing Superchunk, the child was never denied a cake, in fact one was offered with a blank area for the parents to write whatever they wanted on. It was the parents themselves who screwed lil' Hitler out of his cake.

I mean how hard would it have been to buy a small tube of frosting and write "Happy Birthday Blank Slate For Our Unjustified And Backwards Hatred Of Anyone Who Is In Anyway Different From Us And Our Immediate Family!" Sure it would have to be a big cake, but I'm sure a sheet cake would cover it.