(11a) Does "Freedom of Speech" equals "Freedom of Stupidity or to Insult"?
On Friday July 27 2012, the high court in London overruled the conviction of a man who tweeted on Twitter that he may blow up Manchester airport if the airport didn't open within a week because he wanted to see his girlfriend (no flights were possible due to bad weather). The judge said that it was obvious it was only a joke, although a bad one. Many people are happy with the ruling. But should we really? Freedom of stupidity Of course, when it becomes clear that someone made a (very bad) joke on the Internet then one may decide not to punish the person. As far as I can tell, the prosecutor made it clear to the public that some kind of "jokes" are not acceptable on social networks. But, when people continue saying that the whole thing was an absurd operetta, threatening "Freedom of Speech", then I no longer understand people. They even claim that nowadays Shakespeare would no longer be allowed to say "Let's kill all lawyers" (see Henry the ...