Yo
@Kakumei I'm incredibly tired and dazed right now and probably won't be able to form sentences well but you just brought up an argument that annoys the crap out'a me so I'mma make this quick:
If you say you support free speech and that anyone can speak their mind... that means that, if you say something that other people find offensive,
they have the right to tell you that it's offensive.
Because
that is
also a two-way street.
And what Cosmos definitely did bring up is the way in which not referring to a trans person by their gender can be offensive and harmful, and that you should be more careful with what you say because there can be consequences.
That would also be protected under free speech.
Sure, you could say the most dickish and insensitive things you want, if you really want to, and you could argue that that falls under free speech... but so is everyone else's replies about your words being dickish and insensitive.
B'sides, we ain't talking about some mod editing words out of your post or nothin' -- you know, the sort of censorship that free speech is supposed to refer to -- just fellow members
also speaking our minds and telling you what we think about what you have to say.
ALSO all of this is disregarding the fact that "free speech" is not only an American thing that doesn't really apply to the Internet, but also that I'm pretty sure even the rules of Iwaku say that free speech isn't really a thing here and that the staff
can censor you if they feel the need.
ALSO even then, free speech refers to the
government not being able to censor you... not fellow people. Fellow people still have the right to say that your words are offensive if they feel that is the case, just as you would have the right to say potentially offensive things in the first place.
BUT EVEN IF WE DISREGARD THAT, and say for sake of discussion that free speech
does apply in this context... then yeah, my point still stands.
If you say that you should have the right to say whatever you want, then other people should have the right to say whatever they want in response to that.
And if you get worked up about anyone saying that your words are offensive, then, well... maybe the internet isn't the place for
you, either, cuz there's plenty of
that going around, too.
Two. Way. Street.
*mic drop*
*crawls into bed*
Edit: ALSO I'm not trying to call your words "dickish" as I said before -- that was just for sake of example, and, well, factoring in the fact that people
could interpret them that way.