Advocates for censorship and First Amendment infringements fear a lack of this. Unfortunately, they are wrong, as people have always been held liable for crimes that resulted from their speech.

Just because I defend freedom of speech it doesn't mean that I feel people should not be held responsible for their speech. If I told some people to kill say, Bill Clinton and tomorrow they killed him, and when caught they said I told them to do it, what are the chances that I can use free speech as defense? Not very likely.

In addition, the right of freedom of speech of the entire nation supercedes the emotions of a few people who quiver at the thought of inflammatory words. You do not have a right to not be offended. Heck, some people are offended by people looking at them. America was built on the Constitution, and the rights of free speech are guaranteed by it.

A child who has suffered from verbal torment for years eh? Here is one, right here. Chink, nerd, fag, wanker (Aussie word), nigel (another Aussie word), geek, I've heard them all. Didn't affect me. My older sister went through the same. She laughed it off. Words can only hurt you if you take them seriously. Do you really give a shit if some random moron calls you an asshole? If you place respect on those people and believe their words, they will hurt you. Your own fault. You allowed them to damage you.

In conclusion, free speech is much more important than the feelings of a few people who place importance on the words of people who they should see as ignorant. By placing respect on them they allowed the words to hurt them. If the freedom of speech is restricted, there is nothing to prevent further restriction of civil liberties because ideas are being suppressed.

Advice for the ultra-sensitive: If you think they're stupid, their words will not hurt. If you believe they're better than you or smarter than you, their words will hurt. It's obvious what you have to do.