I think there's a huge difference, anya, between holding distasteful views, including expressing them, and acting upon them to the detriment of others. If you never act in a nasty way towards other people, why would your views, whatever they are and on whatever subject, matter to anyone else? If you express them to someone who disagrees with them, you can tell them you disagree and why, or you can do what you did and simply aboid them as you don't like their attitude. Why should any of that have laws against it?
If people with horrible ideas are never allowed to express them, how can we work to prevent such ideas gaining ground?
ankers
1. How is telling someone they're welcome to hijack the conversation shutting anything down?
2. Yes, 140 characters, by its limited nature, does tend to leave a lot out, but the sentiment expressed is perfectly comprehensible to me.
3. I don't know the details of free speech law. I do think any law that prevents people from saying what they think (which is not the same as laws preventing or discouraging people from harming others) is a bad law.