freedom of speech

http://media.www.thecampuspress.com/media/storage/paper1098/news/2008/02/18/Opinion/If.Its.War.The.Asians.Want-3216954.shtml

People can get riled up about something that is written and published. They may get angry and want to shut this person down, get them fired, or shout them out. I do have some problems with this.

1. He is a writer. He may be a bad writer. In fact, he's a horrible writer, but we can't punish someone for being a horrible writer. That's up to his editorial board (though they obviously lack the sense to know that his op-ed was shitty as hell.)

2. Even if we did shut him out, who's to say that he just won't start up a blog? or get private funding? or find another way to publish his point of view? Don Imus was thrown off the radio for his "nappy headed hoes" comment, but he's back. Howard Stern says crazy shit all the time, but he has a private show. Hell, there's even a whole network of people who say ridiculous shit and get away with it (officially it's called Fox News, but I prefer to cuss when I say their name; fuck). Trying to attack him about his flawed way of thinking won't resolve the problem. We have to educate and correct his misconceptions.

3. Some people may actually take this threat seriously and feel that their safety is compromised. I don't want to dismiss those claims outright, but I do believe that:
A. hog-tying people would be considered assault and battery
B. locking them in your apartment would be considered kidnapping
C. forcing them to listen to "It's a small world" over and over again would be considered cruel and unusual punishment (now THAT'S satire!)