The greatest duty of a free people is to speak out when they see something occuring in their country that they believe is wrong. It is a duty we should be taught from the cradle, and be reminded of until we are in our graves.
I think we exclude the opinions of individuals, however personally odious, however contrarian, at great risk to ourselves and our own freedom of speech.
Many times these comments seem to be entirely self-serving
They are often times angry and filled with ad hominem attacks. Their primary purpose seems to be to ridicule the opinions of those they disagree with, and obscure any real discourse on the subject with an obscuring mud coat of obfuscations, slogans and platitudes.
They seem to be far more interested in engaging in tautological (tail chasing in simple terms) arguments that support their own system of beliefs, rather than putting forth arguments that legitimately support their contentions against your own.
clipped from: www.opednews.com