Is Freedom of speech absolute?

By Lora Hunt,
There is no such thing as unlimited free speech. Freedom of speech is something that the government has to give you. As in: they are not allowed to make laws to hinder people in their free speech. That does not mean that nobody else is allowed to hinder you in your free speech either. The free speech that way too many people insists on is not actually free speech as it is written about in the Constitution, but the sort of free speech that says “but I WANT to be able to say hateful things and I DON’T want anybody to get mad about that.” That is, unfortunately for those people but fortunately for everyone else, not the sort of free speech the Constitution talks about.
On the other hand, the people who like to say hateful things do not like to be contradicted. THEIR “freedom of speech” is way more important than the freedom of speech of the people who do not agree. How do I know that? Because the hateful people don’t mind killing people who contradict them. With a five minute search I can make this answer five times as long with acts of violence of hateful people towards people that didn’t agree with them. And with half an hour search I may be able to find a few cases of the reverse. But OUR side gets blamed for being “intolerant” if we speak up against hate speech.
Lastly, a point that other answers already addressed: even IF free speech means that you can say anything that you want wherever and whenever you want, then still it does not mean that nobody is allowed to break off any contact with you. That is the ultimate wet dream, I understand, that you get to say what you want no matter how hateful and STILL get to keep your friends, but in the real world being an asshole leads to losing friends. Sorry not sorry.