Freedom of Speech can be offensive, no matter what the imbeciles tell you

Words have meaning. Twisting them into something they are not doesn’t change their meaning. In response to the Charlie Hebdo attack in France we recently seen various people trying to have their cake and eat it too when it comes to the concept of Free Speech.

The Catholic Pontiff said “You can’t provoke, you can’t insult the faith of others, you can’t make fun of faith,” alongside “Everyone has not only the freedom and the right but the obligation to say what he thinks for the common good … we have the right to have this freedom openly without offending.” He went so far as to say “It is true that you must not react violently, but although we are good friends if (he) says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch, it’s normal.” To which I say Bullshit! You either have free speech or you don’t. The only limiting factors are falsehood and inciting someone to cause injury. You have the right to be offended, but not the right to assault someone or destroy property because you’ve taken offense. Also, he apparently forgot about that whole ‘turn the other cheek’ thing Jesus spoke about in the Sermon on the Mount. If someone gives offense, you aren’t to give it back. However you are allowed to defend yourself and others from assault.

Then, there is the clueless rambling spiel that Tanya Cohen put forth (http://thoughtcatalog.com/tanya-cohen/2015/01/here-is-why-its-time-to-get-tough-on-hate-speech-in-america/) regarding the need for Hate Speech laws in the US. She apparently confuses thoughts/speech with actions. Inciting violence that another person takes up is illegal. Ask former Democratic House candidate and KKK Grand Dragon Tom Metzger still owes for his WAR speeches inciting people to kill blacks.
She shows her own hate by stating “…in the US, fascist political parties like the Republican Party, the Constitution Party, and the Libertarian Party are allowed to freely exist and to spread their hateful ideology, even though these parties oppose fundamental human rights and thus have absolutely no place in a democratic society.” All because people belonging to these groups have differing ideas than her proper good think. She even has a list of 20 points:

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