One thing that has always puzzled me is my fellow citizens' (especially right-wing ones) belief that Europe has a less free public conversation because of their lack of something similar to the First Amendment. On the contrary, it seems as if this has made public discourse more free.
If you look at France for example, you have writers like Michel Houellebecq writing books (some people might find) similar to the Turner Diaries (but obviously much better, mind you) which are then talked about by the Socialist leadership, and not in a completely negative way. Journalists like Éric Zemmour, who is somewhat openly racist, are broadcast on mainstream TV whereas on America we wouldn't get that stuff even on Fox News.
It is clear that our very Manichaean and legalistic approach to free speech does not actually foster the kind of thing classical liberals would have hoped. Instead, I hold, it promotes censorship by the journalists instead of by the state. American journalists have this idea of themselves as "gatekeepers" precisely because the government doesn't serve that role, which is a necessary one. As a result, we get people "censoring" way more things than should be.
On the same point, I don't think it should be wrong that someone gets fined for posting something insensitive. Words have consequences, as they say. They don't exist in their own sphere.
What say you NSG?
