Freedom of thought is meaningless without the freedom to communicate one's thoughts to others. Thus if freedom of thought is an absolute right, it would seem to follow that freedom of speech must also be absolute. But speech is a transaction between two (or more) parties: one conveying information and one or more receiving. All parties have the equal right to freedom of thought, and freedom of thought entails the right not to listen, not to read, not to view, etc. In other words, by the principle of equality, no one has the unlimited right to impose unwanted speech upon another. The distinction must always be recognized between freedom of speech and freedom of action.
Everywhere I turn, there is talk about someone getting offended. In fact, it seems that offending people is just about the worst thing that can be done today aside from murder. Adultery is surely more acceptable than offending someone these days. Do you know what offends me most? People constantly getting offended. Nothing offends me more than someone who is so "offendable" that they have to make every little thing that people do or say a big deal and as a consequence thereof, want to strip me of my right to express myself.
For the record, I find Austria outlawing an expression that the Holocaust never happened, the US Department of Defense outlawing the broadcasting of coffins returning from the Iraq war on television and Canadas "hate laws", equally despicable. We seriously need to rethink which way we are heading if we allow government to tell us what we can and cannot think.
