Suppose that a mainstream newspaper decided to take the opinion (expressed by a US senator in an interview) that homosexuality is akin to bestiality or necrophilia, and run with it, commissioning 12 cartoons to illustrate the point.

Suppose then that a boycott was called of the newspapers, with street protests in cities with large gay communitites.

Suppose then that he rest of the press said "oh, you find those cartoons offensive? Well, you obviously don't understand freedom of speech. Have some more cartoons, they're on the house!".

Suppose someone got so enraged by the whole thing that they ended up getting into a fistfight with one of the cartoonists, and subsequently found guilty of assault. Free speech would have been vindicated!

We have laws against antisocial behaviour. We have laws against harassment. If A says someone to B and B says "A, I find that offensive, don't say it again", and A continues to do it, B might even be able to get a restraining order on A on the grounds of psychological harassment, freedom of speech notwithstanding.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman