from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Entitlement
Main Entry: en·ti·tle·ment
Pronunciation: \-ˈtī-təl-mənt\
Function: noun
Date: 1942
1 a: the state or condition of being entitled : right b: a right to benefits specified especially by law or contract
2: a government program providing benefits to members of a specified group; also : funds supporting or distributed by such a program
3: belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain privileges

Not to be confused with "sense of entitlement," what do you feel you are entitled to? Civil rights? Government assistance? Job opportunities? Other?

i and everyone else is entitled to do whatever the hell i want as long as i don't violate other people's rights.

My opinion and my right to speak it.

They can take a lot from me but that is one thing I will never allow.

I am entitled to nothing. I have to earn whatever it is I want. Rights are a privilege which, if abused, need to be taken away.

Are you saying that the right to free speech is negotiable?

Yes.

Under what terms, and who makes the call on what you're allowed to say?

You know, this is a topic that I almost don't want to debate online because it's really the one topic that so many people take to heart. I hope everyone knows that I'm a real fun loving guy, light hearted and easy going. These are just my opinions, and you know the phrase about what opinions are like. It's way too easy to have words misinterpreted over the internet, because much of what I say almost has to be heard in order to hear the inflection and pitch change in my voice.

That being said, I will continue to post what I think, as long as it can be taken as only my opinion, and if anyone feels like it's a personal attack, it's not.

Also with that being said, I have to go to work pretty quick. I'll put together some facts, get some case law for everyone to reference, and put together my thoughts down on paper and post them later tonight.

And if anyone doesn't know what "case law" is, it's law that's made when a court interprets a law a certain way. It's not made by congress. It is written record, but in law manuals. Something like this..."You are required to maintain a safe distance between your car and the car in front of you while traveling on interstate freeways." Well, "safe distance" is subjective, so the courts will say "Safe distance is X feet behind the other car."

That's for example purposes.

Anyways, free speech is such broad and subjective term. Like I said, I'll put some stuff down and post it later.

I agree with you on that though you don't need to worry; I only get pissed off when people do or say very stupid things (racism, homophobia, lawsuits etc) and it's pretty rare for me to get all riled up on the internet (we're all anonymous so I'd expect some dumb shits to try to exert themselves and their opinions).

Still, you did set up the can of worms to be opened, either by me or someone else, and I won't believe you didn't see my query coming

Oh and btw: Digging up case law will be pretty difficult for me as we don't have case law in my country. Still my motivations aren't really judicial so I don't know how much it matters.

Hey, all I did was answer the question. I may have opened the can, but you handed to me with a can opener.

I also decided after looking at my constitutional law and civil rights books, a free speech discussion deserves its own thread. I also decided one day wasn't enough time to put all my thoughts on paper. Seriously, I'm researching it like I was in college again. I'm probably going to have to end up writing a paper again and putting it in its own thread. The whole thing would way derail this topic.

I may have handed you the can opener but you bought it for me on valentine's day.

It truly does and I kind of felt that this would happen; it's hard to discuss the vague and abstract concept of rights without the posts getting huge.

I think you should be able to do whatever you want as long as it doesnt infringe on another human being.

Why do all americans hate taxes? We in sweden have almost the highest taxes in the world but it pays for our free school lunches. better education, its free for us to go to the doctor so we dont get ruined if we have to have surgery, if we lose our job we dont become homeless we get alittle money from the goverment. Your just cheap and cant think into future.

I feel like people have an over-inflated sense of entitlement already. That's why we have so many lawsuits nowadays.

We don't all hate taxes. It's just that a large percentage of our tax dollars go towards people who do nothing but sit on their ass, shoot out kids, live off social services, live off welfare, never work, and grub off the rest of society. What makes it worse, is that every April, the government rewards those people by giving them more money out of the taxpayer pocket. What makes it even worse then that? The fact that someone like myself, single, no kids, no government assistance, private health care, full time job, and responsible is in the second highest tax bracket in the nation. I use no government programs (other then roads and I'm sure a couple others, but none that I can think of), I am the least burdensome on society, none of my children are burdens or go to public school because I have none...and yet I pay one of the largest percentages of all American citizens.

The only tax group besides single/no children that gets taxed higher? Married with no children.

So going back to Keso's point, and I'm not sure this is exactly it, but sometimes hard working tax payers feel like our government is abusing us and extorting us to pay taxes to support the fuckwads. Because guess what happens if we don't pay taxes? We owe more, or face prison time. Yet Mrs. Can't Keep Her Legs Together and Mr. Fuck and Run can shit out more kids for us to support, they don't have to work and face no penalties for it.

So again, it's not that we hate taxes. I understand that they are needed for a functioning society. I just hate those who sponge off of others. When I say hate, I mean it to. You ever want to know one of my buttons, it's freeloaders.

I really think that if more people paid their share you'd have quite a few results.

1. Less angry tax payers like me because more people are working.
2. Lower taxes because you have more people putting in their fair share.
3. A better understanding of people who need to use government, tax payer funded programs, because we would understand that the person who needed it, really needed it.

So that's why I said originally, I am entitled to not a damn thing. I believe that rights aren't set in stone, they are privileges to be had until you abuse them, then they need to be taken away.

And here's the real kicker to this whole thing. There are freedoms that we have that I don't believe should be freedoms. I believe they should be earned and if abused, taken. I'm not talking free speech and all that jazz. I'm talking about something much more fundamental then that, and if anybody wants to know, PM me.