Free Speech?

[Imperator Romani]

Hey peeps, I've got a break between trips and I won't be on for a week, so I thought I'd (try to) make a good thread. Sorry if it's not, but ya'll usually get sidetracked anyway so it doesn't matter.

Ok here's the situation. Your with the person you most care about in a public place. Someone comes up and disrespects them by saying the worst things you can think of(to them).

What do you do? Do you just say ok, he's got the right of free speech so I'll just watch it happen. OR do you stand up for them?

A question you don't have to answer. Would your actions change on the size of the person(aggresor)

[Watchman]

That's not "free speech", that's being an ass and asking for trouble. See also defamation - probably files under that or some closely related offense...

[Denny Crane!]

Depends. No matter what kind of society you live in or where there should be some protection against abuse, which is far different to free speech.

Most people seem to confuse free speech with the ability to do whatever the hell you want to people verbally which isn't a realistic look at the concept at all.

[King dude man]

I would say all right hes got his right to free speech and then i would show him the right to freedom of expression by beating his ass down

[Visna]

Hey peeps, I've got a break between trips and I won't be on for a week, so I thought I'd (try to) make a good thread. Sorry if it's not, but ya'll usually get sidetracked anyway so it doesn't matter.

Ok here's the situation. Your with the person you most care about in a public place. Someone comes up and disrespects them by saying the worst things you can think of(to them).

What do you do? Do you just say ok, he's got the right of free speech so I'll just watch it happen. OR do you stand up for them?

A question you don't have to answer. Would your actions change on the size of the person(aggresor)

That's not "free speech", that's being a jerk. Just like phoning in false terrorism threats to airports for the lulz, or yelling fire in a crowded theatre are not examples of "free speech".

[Barry Goldwater]

That's not free speech, that's being an ass.

And if the unlucky sod was directing his insults toward me, I claim the freedom to beat the out of him

[Djûn]

Very few places actually hold a criminal law against defamation, and it is practically impossible to show that one has lost public image in order to bring anything under slander or libel. In the UK, we have s.5 of the Public Order Act which allows for the prevention of such unnecessary unpleasantries.

To return to the OP, I don't think I can honestly say that I would not react to this man and knowing my reaction I would probably give as good as I got. I know that I shouldn't react in such a manner due to my own moral code, but I still would. Nevertheless, as I have said in several other posts, freedom of speech is arguably the weakest of all the fundamental human rights, and for good reason. It is in the public interest to a far greater extent to prevent such disrespectful behaviour so directed at the individual than it is to protect the rights of the insulter.

[Mr. Pink]

Well obviously you'd slag him back.

[Shi Huangdi]

Hey peeps, I've got a break between trips and I won't be on for a week, so I thought I'd (try to) make a good thread. Sorry if it's not, but ya'll usually get sidetracked anyway so it doesn't matter.

Ok here's the situation. Your with the person you most care about in a public place. Someone comes up and disrespects them by saying the worst things you can think of(to them).

What do you do? Do you just say ok, he's got the right of free speech so I'll just watch it happen. OR do you stand up for them?

A question you don't have to answer. Would your actions change on the size of the person(aggresor)

The right to free speech only means that the government cannot prosecute speech of any sort. It does not deny citizens the right to get angry when someone insults their best friends/spouses/whatever.

[MasterAdnin]

Hey peeps, I've got a break between trips and I won't be on for a week, so I thought I'd (try to) make a good thread. Sorry if it's not, but ya'll usually get sidetracked anyway so it doesn't matter.

Ok here's the situation. Your with the person you most care about in a public place. Someone comes up and disrespects them by saying the worst things you can think of(to them).

What do you do? Do you just say ok, he's got the right of free speech so I'll just watch it happen. OR do you stand up for them?

A question you don't have to answer. Would your actions change on the size of the person(aggresor)

I would not care about the size of the other person. I would stand up for the person I care most about. If the other person wishes to get physical, so be it. Something like that is not free speech, it is just being rude. If it got physical, I'd probably fight them about it too. However, if they said something about me, I would not mind as much. I'd probably let it go. Again, if it was about the person I cared most about, then I'd get angry.

Salaam,
Adnan

[magickyleo101]

Hey peeps, I've got a break between trips and I won't be on for a week, so I thought I'd (try to) make a good thread. Sorry if it's not, but ya'll usually get sidetracked anyway so it doesn't matter.

Ok here's the situation. Your with the person you most care about in a public place. Someone comes up and disrespects them by saying the worst things you can think of(to them).

What do you do? Do you just say ok, he's got the right of free speech so I'll just watch it happen. OR do you stand up for them?

A question you don't have to answer. Would your actions change on the size of the person(aggresor)

Is there some kind of opposition between thinking that "he's got the right to free speech" and "standing up" for the person you care about that I'm not aware of? Having a right to free speech doesn't prevent someone from calling you out as a moron and having someone stand up for you doesn't mean that they're going to punch anyone in the face.

I think you're imposing a dilemma that doesn't exist.

[Nazgûl Killer]

Hey peeps, I've got a break between trips and I won't be on for a week, so I thought I'd (try to) make a good thread. Sorry if it's not, but ya'll usually get sidetracked anyway so it doesn't matter.

Ok here's the situation. Your with the person you most care about in a public place. Someone comes up and disrespects them by saying the worst things you can think of(to them).

What do you do? Do you just say ok, he's got the right of free speech so I'll just watch it happen. OR do you stand up for them?

A question you don't have to answer. Would your actions change on the size of the person(aggresor)

This highly depends on whoever this person is...
If it's my mom, dad or one of my brothers... Well, I'm a guy, 17, pumped with hormones and stuff, and I am stronger than the average Joe... You do the math
If it's my girlfriend... Well, let's put it this way, even IF he has like 500 friends behind him ready to kick my ***, and even if I end up in a morgue, without a doubt he will end up in the ER, with his tongue cut off and his head up his ***.
If it's one of my friends (Guys), they can take care of themselves.
If it's one of my friends (Women/Girls/Whatever you feel right calling the female 'kind' ), I'd tell him to back off, might even throw a threat.
If he's dissing me (I know, that's not the question, but still...), I'd just ignore him.

That's pretty much all I can think of... Don't think anyone would wanna diss my dog... Or any other pet I may have... Yep. I covered all the options.

[Djûn]

That's pretty much all I can think of... Don't think anyone would wanna diss my dog... Or any other pet I may have... Yep. I covered all the options.

... Your dog smells