The Point of the Story

I think people abuse the phrase "right to free speech". It seems that every time any sort of restriction is implemented or suggested people automatically shield themselves with "I have the right to free speech" Same happens whenever a person decides to say something stupid in an inappropriate setting. Take the story of the teacher from the post below as an example. Does he have the right to believe that allowing gay marriage is horrible? Sure. Does he have the right to say it? Probably. Should he have said it on a Facebook where he had over 700 friends, some of whom were probably his students, their parents? Definitely not. So yes people have the right to express their beliefs but if they do it in the wrong setting they should be prepared for the consequences of it and not cry out "free speech". Free speech is a right given to citizens of many countries based on the belief that said citizens have the intellectual capacity to distinguish between right and wrong between opinion and hate speech, between a statement being informative/expressive and destructive. But people seem to completely ignore that. They choose to believe that free speech is the right to spew any stupid thought that comes to their mind. Maybe there should be a mandatory class on free speech for all citizens, that way people will learn what it actually means.