To just think that a bunch of people not liking something means that something is inherently bad is missing the context for why those people think something is bad, and who told them to think that.

If a billion people think you're an asshole for no objective reason, then you are just doing something they are emotional about.

Of course unless you are trying to win an internet argumet about free speech with a gotcha that makes you feel smart then you will realize that free speech doesn't just mean preventing the government from directly interfering with your speech but is a much broader concept.

Plenty of methaforical ideological death marches on different topics could have been avoided by social gatekeepers not having the social power to silence their friends or party co-members.

Pretending the question is really about someone being rude is patronizing by XKCD.

The concept of 'showing the door' is fine for practical reasons but the other present at the party need to follow in protest on any just so slightly transgression of power.

So now when authoritarianism and racism are in fashion again in ”the West”, those political movements that oppose it are in a quite bad spot, since freedom of thought and expression have been turned down to do a shortsighted delay of the shift in the first place.

Maybe it's easier to see if you're not American and thus aren't covered by the first amendment.

https://sealedabstract.com/rants/re-xkcd-1357-free-speech/in...