"Okay, here's a question - not a rhetorical question, but a philosophical one: can we differentiate between expression of offensive IDEAS (clearly defended by the constitution, and by the quotations in BB's earlier post) and use of offensive LANGUAGE (possibly not protected)? "

I do not see how you can differentiate- *** I *** find the term "BuShite" to be both inaccurate and offensive- but who decides if that is the word or the idea?

If someone decides that a word is offensive, how can we then discuss the topic? Is it OK for one group to use words that offend another group, while the other group is not permitted to use words because those words offend the first group? Who gets to make the "bad word" list?