2x6: I'm not sure who you are responding to when you state that "liberalism is in favor of free speech so long as it is in step with the party lines announced by liberal elitists." In this thread, I've not seen anything close to that type of opinion. I think it's been an interesting discussion in this thread. Perhaps you are speaking to the specific article and what happened with Ann Coulter. But I took it more as a reply to opinions being stated in this thread, and as I mentioned I just don't see what people said here as warranting the characterization quoted above. I'm curious what you were referring to.
In any event, free speech simply does not mean the right to say anything at any time in any place. (You cannot yell "fire" in a crowded theater and then say it is a matter of free speech). I think people often misunderstand what free speech really means. I'll give an example. A friend of mine recently was attacked by her husband brutally (he was charged with attempted murder). Because of who he and she are, the story ended up on a legal blog where people could comment. Some people thought it would be funny to post what they considered humurous comments about the victim. When those comments were removed from the blog, these people screamed that their right to free speech was being violated. They could not have been more incorrect, and sadly given the blog at issue they likely were either law students or lawyers.
Even issues of "free speech" often are difficult to deal with; it is not always black and white. That being said, I tend to agree that people get more into a "free speech" type of mood when the person who wants to speak is going to say something they agree with. I can't say I am above that. However, I don't believe it is limited to the "liberal elitists."
And medic8r, I support a lot of PETA's positions (though not all). How dare you call me a wingnut! (I am kidding. I know my views are pretty extreme on many things, and don't take offense to people characterizing me as a wingnut or anything else. It's probably a fair characterization. Of course, it doesn't make me wrong . . . .")
