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It's troubling that anyone would downvote your comment, and clearly several people have.

Free speech requires more than merely the government allowing it; if the underlying society does not permit it to be exercised, it is effectively defeated.



> Free speech requires more than merely the government allowing it

"Free Speech" in the context of the first amendment deals specifically with the role of government.


Obviously.

Equally obviously, I am referring to the bigger picture. If the government is restrained, but society ostracizes, freedom of speech is effectively useless. The law is the minimum, not the optimum.




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