It's not about freedom to express your opinions.  Honestly that's a
craptastic excuse people use to be rude anymore.  I have no problem
whatsoever with anyone disagreeing with anything said anywhere.  I
have a problem with people being rude and nasty and disguising it in
smarmy comments or justifying it by saying "I know this may offend
some people".  That's just a juvenile way of justifying being a jerk.

If you are stating the facts as you see them and letting your argument
rest on facts instead of opinion you don't have to qualify it with a
"might offend" disclaimer.

I have read this list for a long time (as stated before) and left for
a bit before returning.  I have always been impressed with the
knowledge shared here.  But when I read a member basically wishing
death upon another whom they know nothing about I think a line has
been crossed that should not be crossed by supposedly mature
responsible adults.

Again, it's not about freedom.  It's about common decency.

I disagree with a lot of people about a lot of things but in my
wildest imagination I cannot even begin to consider saying to someone
"well when you die.....insert obnoxious comment here".  Not only is
that nothing but posturing, it takes away any credence or respect I
will put into anything that person says from that point forward.

Kristy

On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 5:41 AM, Colyn Case at earthlink
<colyncase@earthlink.net> wrote:
> I agree with Jim mostly but I think freedom cuts both ways.
>
> person a says:  I have done a certain thing.    (asserts his freedom to do a
> certain thing)
>
> person b says: I have decided a) not to do the certain thing b) that my
> doing the certain thing impacts the freedoms of others so I don't and c) I
> prefer not to fly with people that do the certain thing and may even say d)
> I prefer that people that do certain thing are not part of my insurance
> pool.
>
> (asserts freedoms  (a) through (d) and points out some interconnections in
> the community)
>
> People that are interested in defending freedom should not be offended in
> the freedom's asserted by (b).