Legal Question in Constitutional Law in New York

Re: Newspaper article gone too far?

The First Amendment protects writers from being censored by those whom their writings offend. After all, nearly any opinion will turn out to be offensive to someone, as will many attempts at humor. If such writings could be removed from view simply because some deem them offensive, then our public discourse would suffer immeasurably.

Quite a few people are offended by what others consider great works of literature and film. Others are offended by campaign speeches and newspaper editorials with which they disagree. Some take offense at the Koran, while others are probably offended by the Bible. There is no reason why the reactions of these people should deny the rest of us access to the materials they dislike.

Living in a society with freedom of speech means we will sometimes be offended by what others say or write. It's a price we pay for living in a free society -- and a rather modest price at that.

If you find something offensive then don't read it. There is no reason to deny others the opportunity to read an article which you (and surely many others) dislike.

The law offers no way for you to make the Onion remove this article or offer an apology. You might have better luck if you contact its editors directly and explain how you feel about the article. You could also try to have a response of your own published somewhere. The way to respond to speech with which you disagree is to speak out yourself and not to silence others.