Maybe I'm wrong, but I sure as hell hope I'm not.

As I mentioned above, I have been focusing a bit more on free speech issues over the past week. One of my latest posts on this was on Sunday about a congressperson who is a bit off-center and is being threatened with censure. From my post "Let Rashida Tlaib Speak All She Wants With No Censure or Expulsion":

As sometimes is ironically noted, when the Bill of Rights was passed immediately after the United States Constitution was ratified, it was no mistake that the First Amendment was about speech, and the Second Amendment was about the ability to keep government from preventing you from being able to speak freely. I have read a number of articles and books about the passage of the first 10 amendments, and while that has been alluded to, I don't recall ever seeing evidence in the affirmative that that's exactly why those two were passed in the way they were.

Rolling into the topic of this article, which is being able to express ideas and thoughts freely in this country no matter how ignorant and repulsive they may be, inevitably, Congressperson Rashida Tlaib's name is going to come up.

Tlaib and controversial statements go together like peanut butter and jelly or mold on cheese. You just can't separate those two — that is the nature of things, and you just need to accept it.

My colleague Sister Toldjah had this take when Tlaib ended her silence AFTER Hamas invaded Israel and threatened reprisal in Gaza: Rashida Tlaib Learns the Hard Way That Her Words and Actions Have Consequences.

Of course, Tlaib could not help herself, and she launched into a bit of a tirade 

But once she did begin speaking out on the attacks, she couldn't stop, and reminded people all over again why she has often been referred to as the leader of the House's "Hamas Caucus," taking a shameful blame-the-victim approach towards Israel and stating that the violence would not end for "as long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government."

On Wednesday, Tlaib took it a step further during an unhinged speech, threatening Joe Biden and inciting anti-Israel "protesters" who were steps away from the Capitol to take over parts of the Capitol complex, which led to some 300 arrests, including three for allegedly assaulting police officers. 

After the damage was done, however, Tlaib learned the hard way that her words and actions and those of the terrorist government she supports have consequences.

A Palestinian conference that was scheduled to take place at the end of October in Houston which featured Tlaib and fellow antisemitic activist Linda Sarsour got canceled by the Hilton Hotel that was set to host it:

I know that some people find the idea that the cancelation of an event because of certain views held is setting a horrible precedent. 

Yet I'm going to believe that the vast majority of those people who would hold that view about Tlaib would also find it perfectly okay to force a baker to bake a cake for an event that his religious views don't support.

This is a wide two-way street for people, and every action has a reaction.

I don't blame anyone for not wanting Tlaib and her unhappy band of marauders to rent facilities, but I also am fully in support of her flapping her gums so I know exactly what she is thinking. 

Now we come to the arena of comedy where everything is supposed to be a bit more lighthearted, but not in today's world, as was shown right here:

Fans reportedly walked out of a recent Dave Chappelle stand-up comedy show after the legendary comedian criticized Israel's bombing of Gaza.

Chappelle reportedly made the incendiary remarks during a stand-up comedy show at the TD Garden in Boston on Thursday.

Chappelle delved into the polarizing topic by saying none of the Harvard and Columbia students should lose their jobs over public statements supporting Palestinians and blaming Israel for the recent conflict that has taken the lives of more than 5,700 Israelis and Palestinians. A law firm rescinded letters of employment for three law students who signed the anti-Israel document.

An audience member allegedly yelled at Chappelle to "shut up!"

Telling one of the best who has ever practiced the craft of stand-up comedy to shut up is not gonna work in this instance. However, later in the show.

Some of the comedy crowd members shouted, "Free Palestine!" Meanwhile, others screamed, "What about Hamas!"

However, some audience members stormed out of the comedy show, according to witnesses.

Chappelle conceded that the surprise Hamas terrorist attack was not the "right" thing to do.

I love the part at the end of the story where Chappelle concedes that Hamas's surprise attack on Israel was not the right thing to do.

Audience members willingly paid their money in exchange for seeing one of the all-time greats in the comedy realm live, and some did not like what they heard and reacted. Some loved it and also reacted, which both ways are appropriate as long as no violence erupts.

Chappelle is very well known for taking on controversial topics, as he has with the words that can be used with the trans community —which he correctly identified as a free speech issue. So your chances of getting offended by something that Dave says during a live show are up in the high probability range.

I believe Dave's view and his reaction to Israel being invaded over two weeks ago are heavy-handed and wrong. Once again, every action has a reaction, and if the Palestinians and Hamas had not wanted Israel to bomb them over the past two weeks, they probably shouldn't have invaded them and kidnapped and murdered a bunch of innocent civilians. 

However, I can disagree with Dave on this vehemently and still enjoy the body of his work and I might even pay to see him live the next time he's around.

The overall goal of free speech is not to protect the vulnerable but to embolden them to speak out about the wrongs that they perceive in their world and to seek redress from their government officials for those ills. The world that some have created where words that invoke hurtful feelings need to be banned to protect those whose feelings are hurt is the wrong remedy.

Dave Chappelle knows this better than most and I'm sure he will continue to speak his mind and is fully prepared for the consequences of those words no matter what they are.

We should all be more like that.

Editor's Note: This article was edited post-publication for clarity.