Offensive Speech is still Free Speech

A couple of weekends ago, I was in K-Mart with my daughter. We were in line to check out, and these two upstanding proponents of free speech were in line in front of us. One of them was wearing a tee shirt with the slogan "I eat <deleted> like a fat kid eats cake".

Now, I have a sense of humor that takes the occasional foray into the gutter, and I must admit... I snickered. I also distracted my daughter (Ooo, look, more magic markers!), so that she wouldn't see the shirt.

The more I thought about this, the more I realized I am truly a libertarian. Here was my take on it:

Einstein there had every right to wear his shirt, good taste aside.

I had every right to call him a jerk - again, free speech.

K-Mart had every right to ask him to leave. They didn't, but they could have: their house, their rules

Everybody in the store had the right to laugh.

Everybody in the store had the right to be offended.

In the end, we all went our separate ways.

Libertarians know that your rights end where their rights begin, and vice versa. They don't demand the government step in and take action because they're offended. They just live their lives and let others live theirs.

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