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A recurring theme in public discourse that annoys me:
Person A says something that many people find offensive. Person A is criticised for it. Person A may or may not be censured in some fashion by their employers, if their statements connect in some way to their employment.
Either Person A or other persons from other positions in the alphabet declaim, "WHAT ABOUT FREEDOM OF SPEECH?" Optional: If American, cite the First Amendment.
Free speech does not mean free from criticism. The critics are, in fact, exercising their own free speech rights. And an employer can, within the limits of contract and employment law, do whatever the hell they want, because free speech does not guarantee you a platform, or freedom from consequences.
The First Amendment of the US Constitution prohibits the government from abridging freedom of speech. This is, in fact, the general model of free speech rights. The government can't prohibit you saying something (although in (in my view) saner countries, the government can and does prohibit hate speech, and the like), but this does not guarantee anything else at all, or else no Non-Disclosure Agreement would be legal, and no PR hack could be fired for saying that their client ate live puppies for kicks.
So SHUT UP ABOUT FREE SPEECH.
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