Do We Have The Right To Not Be Offended?

"Thou shall not offend thy neighbor?"

It is one of the many talking points of the left, liberals always forcing people to walk on egg shells when they speak, protest, or state their religion.  Actually, you can apply it to anything in daily life.  You hear the talking heads say how offensive something is, and how it should not be allowed.  This is another classic liberal attempt to chip away at the 1st ammendment.  What is deemed offensive?  The criteria seems to be, if you have one of these phony civil rights organization such as the ACLU,  that doesn't like something because it "offends" them, then that is considered offensive.   First of all, anything can offend a given person on a given day.  Perception is reality.  And if someone perceives a statement to be offensive, then it is, to that person.  But, Freedom of speech allows us to say what is on our minds and not be fearful of persecution.  Americans do not have a right to "not be offended."  I have heard some state that this should be a right of all americans, but if you make this a legitimate argument, you then have to ditch the 1st ammendment all together.  

If anything, Americans have the right to "offend".  This however, is not a right that someone normally exercises voluntarily.  People do not generally want to say things just to upset someone.   When someone wants to set up a nativity scene on public property, then they should be able to do it, without any lawsuits or people saying, "that is offensive".  But at the same time, if someone of a different religion wants to put up a symbol of their faith, during a particular holiday, the should also be allowed to do so.  On one hand, yes it is public land, but,  on the other hand the taxpayers, contribute the same amount collectively, and it should not matter what religion they practice if they want to put up a display on public property. 

So, we need to get off this argument that things deemed "offensive" need to be shut down or banned.  I personally, may not agree with what you say, but, I would fight and die for your right to say it.