Quoted:
You are splitting hairs g-man. You know what I mean and are one of the biggest pushers of restrictive posts. No flame, just a personal observation.
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You are right - I don't interpret that as a flame.
I just happen to value technical accuracy in the words we choose to use. For instance, I'm of the opinion that First Amendment protected "speech" ONLY involves WORDS, not putting crosses in bottles of urine, or deficating on symbols other people groups consider sacred.
I'm willing to open the defintion of "words / speech" to include ANY representation of lucid, rational, intelligent thought. Whether it be pics, mathematical equations, words or whatever.
I also tend to think the FF were leaning heavily toward POLITICAL speech in the First Amendment, not the obscenities we seem to think of as protected speech today.
To me, you shouldn't claim someone is atempting to prohibit "thought" when you mean "speech." It borders on a false accusation, as about the ONLY groups that REALLY want to limit thought these days are the Communists / Marxists. The mods SHOULD NOT be innacurately lumped in with them.
And yes, I am about the biggest proponent of restrictive posts - ESPECIALLY for people INCAPABLE of controlling themselves. I far and away prefer that people exercise self-control. But when they REFUSE to, they leave NO CHOICE but to have a hammer administered to their thick skulls.
To me, free speech has more to do with a duty of self-control, self-regulation and the exercising of courtesy and discretion than it has to do with the unrestrained babbling of whatever is on your mind.