[Alberta's Child]

You're missing the point completely. The discussion in this article here is based on what is right, not what the legalities are.

I have a right to free speech here in the U.S. But if I go up to a random stranger on the street this morning and call him an "@sshole!" to his face, I'll have nobody but myself to blame if I get beaten to a pulp. Sure, I would be "free speech advocate" and he would be a criminal ... but I would ultimately be responsible for my troubles.

[ltc8k6]

Not the same as murdering a bunch of folks who print/say offensive stuff, imo.

I agree that you would deserve a punch in the nose, and if I were on a jury, I would go easy on him for punching you.

If he shot you, I would not agree that you deserved it, and I would not go easy on him at trial.

“They got what they deserved” is a slippery slope, imo.

[aquila48]

Or as Jim Croce sang...
“ Yeah you don’t tug on superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind
You don’t pull the mask off the old lone ranger
And you don’t mess around with muSlims”.

[kevao]

if I go up to a random stranger on the street this morning and call him an "@sshole!" to his face, I'll have nobody but myself to blame if I get beaten to a pulp.

If that random stranger were someone who voted to have my health care insurance of twenty years canceled, then I would say that was a very appropriate exercise of your free speech. Although I would have much preferred you'd beaten *him* to a pulp....