Suppose you're walking down the street with your wife and kids.

Up comes a guy who calls your wife a whore and tells you your kids look retarded.

Do you:

A: Turn away and do nothing.

B: Thank him for exercising his First Amendment rights.

C: Punch him in the nose and let your son urinate on his face.

I'll play it safe...

D... all of the above/none of the above

Low

tailgater --- the mature thing to do, would just be to walk away and ignore him.

There was a time in my life when I would have made the

situation into a violent one.

After several years of my wife teaching me how to control my temper, I would now just walk away.

...octo

Laugh in his face, call him a Democrat and walk away.

That's funny,cause I'd call a republican and walk away,LOL. X

... what X said ... LOL!

X, would you call a republican to assist you? Why call a republican?

For the record, I know what you meant.

And it is quite humerous.

Yes, Slim, you are correct. The mature thing to do would be to walk away.

Plan B would be to spread his nose from ear to ear with your fist.

Never would anyone applaud him for excercising his freedom of speech.

Yet that's exactly what folks are doing on this board.

No one here is applauding him for excercising his freedom of speech, and I don't see anoyone doing that on this board.

You are reading way to much into the responses given here ...

No one said that the strangers comment was acceptable or appropriate ... but how the recipient of that comment reacts to it, will show what kind of character he has ...

I wasn't clear (my fault).

The "applause" is not for the stranger on the street. That was simply an analogy to tie into michael moores speech.

Fighting words doctrine. The First Amendment doctrine that holds that certain utterances are not constitutionally protected as free speech if they are inherently likely to provoke a violent response from the audience. N.A.A.C.P. v. Clairborne Hardware Co., Miss., 458 U.S. 886, 102 S.Ct. 3409, 73 L.Ed.2d 1215 (1982). Words which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace, having direct tendency to cause acts of violence by the persons to whom, individually, remark is addressed. The test is what persons of common intelligence would understand to be words likely to cause an average addressee to fight. City of Seattle v. Camby, 104 Wash.2d 49, 701 P.2d 499, 500.

The "freedom of speech" protected by the Constitution is not absolute at all times and under all circumstances and there are well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech, the prevention and punishment of which does not raise any constitutional problem, including the lewd and obscene, the profane, the libelous, and the insulting or "fighting words" which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568, 62 S.Ct. 766, 86 L.Ed. 1031.

SOURCE: Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition

ANOTHER SOURCE:

http://www.freedomforum.org/packages/first/fightingwords/casesummaries.htm 

Them's fighten words...

Nobody, NOBODY talks to my wife like that while I am standing next to her and remains free from consequences. I would, being a peace loving gentleman, first give him a chance to take it back. If he would not, He would in the future, blow his nose from the back of his head.

As a hypothetical question, it's more then a little far-fetched. (This kind of thing happen a lot in your neighborhood?) I will play along just the same.

Now If a complete stranger had done this out of the blue, I would have to assume that he may be drunk, mentally deranged, or simply has me mistaken for someone else.

I could retaliate physically, but there is the possability he has a concelled weapon. In that case I would be at a distinct disadvantage being outgunned and having to defend myself as well as my family. Even if succesful in subduing him, there is a good chance we both end up in jail while the cops sort it out.

I could retaliate verbally, but the odds are good that the verbal confrontation would quickly escalate to the physical altercation discussed above.

I could walk away thereby demonstrationg to my wife my ability to keep my emotions under control. (a quality she greatly admires) as well as showing my child how to behave in a civilized sociaty even though not everyone else does.

Why would I justify an act so stupid with an equally stupid response?

Never argue with an idiot. Bystanders may not be able to distinguish between the two of you.

my xperience was not even close. my dog and i sit oput side a grocery store on a bench while toby is in shopping. most people come over pet the dog and tell me how i remind them of their grandfather and the great smell of his cigars.

once someone came out of the store and said something about my smoking, something negative as i recall. i looked at him and said "go away." he did

Slim....

"tailgater --- the mature thing to do, would just be to walk away and ignore him."

Hehehe!! Thats a good one...

Slim, after what you and I just went through, I dont think either one of us, should comment on the maturity of others for a while.

Mag

LOL @ Magnafide ---

Still, the scenario that tailgater posted (which is supposedly a face to face confrontation), is far different than our little online squabble ... which were just words that were said at each of us to get the other one riled ...

I stand by what I said ... and in that particular situation, I would do the mature thing, and not revert to physical violence.