# GusNSpot, you are one sick fuck **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 19, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642 "2011-07-19T23:26:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/81 "2011-07-21T01:46:41Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > What are the units for measuring faggotry? Sodometres? ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/82 "2011-07-21T02:03:03Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > What are the units for measuring faggotry? > [@Giraffe](#): > > Sticks? I was thinking of metric fucktons myself. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/83 "2011-07-21T02:12:39Z")
Metric? Commie. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/84 "2011-07-21T02:25:09Z")
It’s been quite a while since I’ve had this many people take something I’ve said and run with it like this. I guess I’d forgotten just how literally things can get taken around here. So here’s a summary of my feelings on free speech. I believe in complete free speech and free expression, as long as doing so doesn’t infringe on another person’s civil rights. For example, shouting “Fire!” In a crowded theater is not allowed because it puts people in danger. Also, libel and slander are against the law because spreading lies about someone is an infringement on their civil rights. Otherwise, I believe in free speech even when it’s ugly and offensive, hell, especially when it’s ugly and offensive. Those are the times to put our money where our mouths are about that freedom. As far as I’m concerned, people can spout ugliness and hate all day long as long as they aren’t inciting violence or infringing on anyone’s civil rights. That also goes for artistic expression, or any other form of speech. Putting limits on speech is a slippery slope that I don’t want to go down. I feel more strongly about free speech than I do about almost anything else. And it surprises me that any Dopers feel otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/85 "2011-07-21T02:48:53Z")
> [@jlzania](#): > > But the real question is, is **GusNSpot** a baby boomer? He could be a fat, skanky, baby boomer :eek: ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/86 "2011-07-21T03:07:42Z")
**Gus** may be a boomer, but he’s on the early end of it. I’ve always liked him, but I like most everybody here, and I avoid his politics, which tend to places I’d rather he didn’t go. **Indy**? She has a head start by being a grrl. I’m a boomer and sexist that way. 😉 ETA: She may not like that. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/87 "2011-07-21T03:42:34Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > It took me what, 10 years to get a pit thread all my own. w00t!!! ( Well, Monty don’t really count. ) I don’t really recall you being worth the trouble before to actually devote a thread to you. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/88 "2011-07-21T03:54:49Z")
Monty, IIRC, USMC, meet GusNSpot, IIRC, Army. Enjoy yourselves. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/89 "2011-07-21T03:59:08Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Monty, IIRC, USMC, meet GusNSpot, IIRC, Army. Enjoy yourselves. _snerk_ ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/90 "2011-07-21T04:22:07Z")
In recent years several notable defenders of freedom have misused the American flag. The flag code are optional. Recommendations, not laws. It is just as much a violation of these recommendations to sign a flag, or make a campaign sign out of one as it is to burn one. Examples: [Palin](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/21/article-1322627-0BB5F51B000005DC-75_468x286.jpg) signing US flag [Bush](http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/images/bushflag.jpg)signing US flag [Bush](http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/images/bush911.jpg)standing on US flag [Obama](http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/images/barackflag.jpg)campaign posters misuse the flag **GusNSpot** , keep your powder dry amigo. These violations of the recommendations on flag handling etiquette are going on everywhere! ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/91 "2011-07-21T04:36:23Z")
Perhaps the target of this thread could learn something from [_Penn & Teller_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF2iX2VG6e4). ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/92 "2011-07-21T17:51:46Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > I will say that the most commonly-recommended method of disposal for a US flag must be a real conundrum for him. +1. [Not nearly the only cite proving that the American Legion burns American Flags. All. The. Time.](http://www.usflag.org/flagetiquette.html) **GusNSpot** , you’d better start Reloading For Re-Education, cuz the 'Merriken Legion they be flag burners. Go git em, hoss !!! Putz. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/93 "2011-07-21T18:19:03Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > As far as I’m concerned, people can spout ugliness and hate all day long as long as they aren’t inciting violence or infringing on anyone’s civil rights. That also goes for artistic expression, or any other form of speech. What’s wrong with inciting violence? Or rather, what makes inciting violence more deserving of censorship than hate alone? Isn’t hate on its own related to violence even if it’s not explicit? For example, I don’t see a whole lot of difference between “God hates fags” and “Let’s kill fags.” They’re both dehumanizing, and once you dehumanize, you can’t be sure where zealots will take things. Why protect one and not the other, or more poignantly, why protect either? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/94 "2011-07-21T18:35:51Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > So what’s burning an American flag symbolic of? It’s symbolic of respectfully and properly disposing of an American flag that has been besmirched by filth; if the lines on your flagpole should snap in a high wind, and the flag happens to float into a neighbor’s open cesspool, you don’t leave it there. And you don’t pull it out and launder it. Even though it was an accident, the proper way to dispose of the flag is to burn it. If a vandal cuts the line and the flag falls into the cesspool, the same course of action applies. Malicious mischief caused the befoulming of the of the flag, but the proper response is still to dispose of it respectfully, by burning it. If anti-American demagogues befoul the flag metaphorically, by, say, proposing an anti-flag-desecration amendment, the proper symbolic response is to respectfully burn a flag by way of disposing of it. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/95 "2011-07-21T23:47:56Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > What’s wrong with inciting violence? Or rather, what makes inciting violence more deserving of censorship than hate alone? Isn’t hate on its own related to violence even if it’s not explicit? For example, I don’t see a whole lot of difference between “God hates fags” and “Let’s kill fags.” They’re both dehumanizing, and once you dehumanize, you can’t be sure where zealots will take things. Why protect one and not the other, or more poignantly, why protect either? Well, inciting violence infringes on other people’s civil rights, offensive opinions do not. People are free to think and say all sorts of crazy and hateful things, and others are free to disagree and make their own offensive statements. Freedom to be an offensive asshole is an American right! I can’t imagine wanting it any other way. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/96 "2011-07-22T00:13:36Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > Freedom to be an offensive asshole is an American right! I can’t imagine wanting it any other way. This. America was founded by assholes for assholes. You can’t even conceive of rebelling against your king without being an offensive asshole. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/97 "2011-07-22T00:30:11Z")
I’d always sort of assumed that being an offensive asshole was a lot of work, but when I stop to think, I realize I don’t actually _know_ that. We could ask one, I suppose. Suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/98 "2011-07-22T00:55:15Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I’d always sort of assumed that being an offensive asshole was a lot of work, but when I stop to think, I realize I don’t actually _know_ that. We could ask one, I suppose. Suggestions? Pot, meet Kettle. If you hadn’t noticed, you are both black. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/99 "2011-07-22T00:58:01Z")
Oh, I can be an offensive asshole all day long without even breaking a sweat. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642/100 "2011-07-22T01:11:04Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > No matter how good a thread is, it could always be better with a little more nitpicking and pedantry. 'Kay [Quote=Guinistasia] Descent and freedom are. [/quote] “Dissent” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gusnspot-you-are-one-sick-fuck/589642.md?page=6)