Screw Freedom Of Speech

All right calm down, I'm kidding.

The right to freedom of speech is one we all as Americans should thank our lucky stars for every single day. There are still places on this planet where that so called "simple" little freedom is not allowed. (See any communist nation,like Venezuela or China.)

Today Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was given a platform to speak on one of the most prestigious college campuses in this nation. The explanation given was that it "was all about freedom of speech".

In Colorado, the editor of the Colorado State University newspaper, is defending his choice to speak freely in the editorial section of his newspaper. "The four-word editorial, published Friday in the Rocky Mountain Collegian, said in large type, "Taser this. F—- Bush."

What both A-Mad-Jew-Hating-Jihadist and this J. David McSwane, from Colorado, are finding out is that freedom of speech comes with a price.

The constitution lays it out quite clearly:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Nowhere in the first amendment does it say that you have the right to not offend people or be offended. I see that nowhere does the constitution allow for you to speak freely and promise that you, in a democratic society, won't outrage people and have them in turn practice a little freedom of speech on your ass.

Freedom of speech does in fact come with repercussions folks.

In the case of Mr. McSwain: "The newspaper's business manager has said the operation lost $30,000 in advertising in the hours after the editorial was published, and that the pay of student staffers would be cut 10 percent to compensate." Repercussions.

"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was treated to a humiliating and public dressing down when he appeared at a top US university Monday, where he was described as a "petty and cruel dictator by university president Lee Bollinger. Ahmadinejad accused Bollinger of a "wave of insults and allegations" while largely avoiding any direct answers to any of Bollinger's challenges." Repercussions.

You can't always have your free speech cake and expect to eat it to. One must take personal responsibility in what one says and expect a reaction. Remember, the reaction is free speech as well.