This is one of the dumbest things I’ve read in a long time. You can boil this column down to a single idea — offensive things that i agree with should be protected; other things should not be. You believe in free speech only if you defend things that offend you.
One of the misconceptions that muddle the West’s debate over Islam and free speech is the idea that people should be totally free to insult. Free speech is never that absolute. Even — or perhaps especially — in America, where citizens are protected by the First Amendment, there are certain words and opinions that no civilized person would utter, and others that open the speaker to civil charges.