I have been following the news a lot lately with issues like Daniel Tosh's unfortunate spate with rape jokes, if they could be called that. There was also pundit Jonah Goldberg stating that young people who believe we should take a turn towards socialism in some areas of the government are stupid, and should have said stupidity beaten out of them literally or figuratively. In general, people posting some very controversial an unpopular or erroneous opinions, then crying foul when someone calls them out on how their opinion is offensive, and making proclamations that the critics are stifling this person's freedom of speech. I think what has happened is people are conflating Freedom of Speech with Freedom from Criticism. They usually think their opinion is sacrosanct, and when people disagree with them in a vociferous manner or counter their opinion with some larger ramifications of stated opinion, they react poorly to said criticism. It is almost as if they are surprised that people either disagree with them, or think they are wrong.
People, specially people in the realm of celebrity and influence should chose their words more carefully. Someone hears what they have to say, and take it as the thing to do, or believe, which in turn has greater consequences. As one of my favorite journalists Allison Killkenny once said, and I am paraphrasing a bit... "It is not our job to make bullies and bigots comfortable." People should take responsibility for what they say. This applies to bullies, pundits, but also to community members on the local scope, such as teachers, preachers, and family members.
