Reply #48: With all due respect [View All]

I don't think I am confusing anything at all. Rights, however one might define them, cease to be so when the executor of said right endangers the wellbeing of others.

Could I for example, sneak up on someone on the high dive at my local pool and scream in their ear unexpectedly? If they fall, breaking a leg say, am I not culpable in some way?

Let's put our sneaky screamer into the cockpit of a 757 executing a delicate landing. Can he attempt to scare the bejeebus out of our duped pilot at the critical moment?

Let's place him at the scene of a tense standoff between police and a scared and slightly paranoid man hold his family hostage at gunpoint. This time let's have him throw a few firecrackers into the no man's land. So what if people get shot, it's free speech right?

I don't think so myself. Fortunately for us all, neither do our lawmakers.