You never answered properly when I posted about death threats to gay people on social media. Your evasiveness on that matter led me to believe that you thought unfettered free speech was acceptable. When in reality it never has been until now, apparently. You also indicated that you thought that some of the way the media operates somehow was responsible for painting a more negative picture of Trump than he deserved. If I've misinterpreted your previous posts I apologise. That was how it seemed to me at the time. Free speech as an absolute rule should not be allowed to exist. Anyway I am probably to scared and to angry to continue this discussion so I'll let it be. I will finish by saying that collectively the West seems to be intent on throwing the baby out with the bath water. It won't end well.
Apologies for not defining exactly what I meant by the phrase "free speech" when I first used it, but I have clarified, and I did answer. I said that threats and lies can be tackled by laws that do not, in my opinion, impinge on the principles of free speech.
We currently have several laws that do impinge, though, and they haven't protected me from having "Nazi scum off our streets' screamed in my face by a masked man at close quarters (with a policeman standing by, watching), or threatened with being punched in the face because I recognise material reality and have the temerity to say so.
And even so, I don't want those people silenced. I want their aggression and irrationality on display for everyone to see, because their free speech helps my case.
Trump has been lied about by establishment media. They're still doing it. I don't like him, which I've said already, but if you need to lie to make your case, your case is weak. Snopes, not normally considered a fascist-friendly fact checking service:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-very-fine-people/I agree there is a danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. However, I don't think we agree on what constitutes "the baby". I never thought I'd be looking to Toby Young to defend my rights, but the Free Speech Union were a lot more use to me than PCS, the union I'd paid subs to for 37 years. FSU don't ask what your politics are before they defend your rights. When they set up, they didn't expect they'd be acting on behalf of so many left-wing lesbians, for example, but stood, and stand, by their principles.
I'm sorry you're scared and angry. I find these conversations stressful too, but I think they're necessary.
