Freedom of Speech – what it means
Freedom of speech means freedom to say whatever you want; it does not mean freedom from having to face the consequences of what you say.
What you write or say comes with consequences. To protect yourself, follow one simple guideline:
Don’t write anything you wouldn’t say publicly to someone’s face.
It’s easy to get carried away when writing alone on the keyboard and end up writing wild statements that you can’t support. This is especially true when writing about culture, politics, or public issues. When you read over what you write and before you click Submit, ask yourself if you can stand by everything you wrote and are willing to say it in public in front of anyone you mention (in court if need be).
Most of you will never have to worry about such a thing, but keeping that one simple guideline in mind won’t hurt you, and just might save you from a whole mess of bad consequences.