Yes, I'm an idiot because I don't want politicians deciding on what people may say.
Either that, or (as I suspect is actually the case) you do not really believe in the absolute right of free speech--defined, once again, as the right of any person to say anything to anyone in any circumstance at any time without any official sanction or punishment. Look:
1. Suppose I am your attorney, and you give me information that should be covered under attorney-client privilege--information that is technically irrelevant to your case, but that would look bad to a jury, leading to your conviction for a crime you did not, in actuality, commit. I decide to call the opposing attorney and tell him the information for a handsome under-the-table fee. I should receive no punishment?
2. Suppose I am your doctor, and you are diagnosed with an operable brain tumor of a type that is likely to offer you a full recovery. I decide, for whatever reason, to call your employer and tell them to watch out, that you're going to need to miss work for about a month due to your condition--leading to you being fired and losing medical insurance, allowing the tumor to grow and kill you. I should receive no sanction?
3. Suppose I am an officer in the United States navy, and we are at war with China. I decide to radio a Chinese military officer and deliver information that will most surely allow the Chinese to kill the vast bulk of our navy in one fell swoop, delivering to them a huge advantage in the overall war, and leading to many tens of millions of Americans dead as the Chinese eventually invade the North American mainland. I shouldn't be executed for treason?
Laws govern all three situations, and in all three, the hypothetical "I" would be punished. And in all three, I
should be punished. Speech, in all its forms, and the information it contains,
matters in this world. And we humans have a responsibility to manage the flow of such information, which, in some cases, becomes so critical that peoples' lives depend on it. When speech causes serious undue harm to another, it ought to be curtailed by law--as the above three examples illustrate.
