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Comment by fomojola | Hacker News Reader

You can say whatever you want: you should also expect to take heat from non-like minded people. At some point the free speech concept transitioned to "I should be able to say whatever I want with no consequences". The First Amendment is very specific:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Says nothing about any one else's responses to your words.

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Free speech is important even in contexts where the First Amendment doesn't apply. The First Amendment is important because free speech is important, not the other way around.

I agree with this:

    You can say whatever you want: you should also expect
    to take heat from non-like minded people.

But I think this misrepresents the view of free speech advocates (it certainly misrepresents my viewpoint):

    At some point the free speech concept transitioned to
    "I should be able to say whatever I want with no
    consequences".

On the contrary, I think a lot of left-authoritarians who want to censor right-leaning speech are the ones touting this viewpoint. It's not the pro-free-speech crowd that wants no consequences for what they say, it's the anti-free-speech crowd. One of the consequences of stating your opinion publicly is that people will disagree with you.

What does the US constitution has to do with this and why should I care?

> I should be able to say whatever I want with no consequences

This is kind of the point of free speech. You are not free to do something if you are threatened with jail-time or murder or getting beaten or ... .

The article talks about "constitutional rights": hence the US constitution link. You may not be in the US: in which case, you're right, you shouldn't care.

The usual counter example to statements of the form "You are not free to do something if you are threatened with jail-time or murder or getting beaten or ... ." is "if you yell fire in a crowded theater, expect to get in trouble". You're free to yell, but there WILL be consequences.

> The article talks about "constitutional rights"

No, it does not.

> You're free to yell

In the same sense that I am free to murder someone or free to modify and distribute proprietary software - free in the sense that nature won't stop me, unlike flying for example, but not free in any useful sense of the word, otherwise everyone would have free speech at all times and no matter where they are and at what era they lived in as long as they are not mute.

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