Hate Speech

By no means do I believe that any sort of hate speech is ever acceptable or just, however, I do believe that we, as Americans, have the right to freedom of speech.  Although we can mostly all agree that some extremely hurtful things that have can have a huge impact on others are constantly said throughout society, I think that without the right to express our opinions freely, what defines us as Americans would be non existent.
Of course death threats or any kinds of threats at all are completely unacceptable and frankly, against the law, I don't think that stating negative opinions should fall under the same umbrella.  I mean, what if you were stripped of the right to state your thoughts freely?  I think that hate speech that involves threats or can impact the livelihood of people are an extreme which should deem consequences, but stating political opinions, etc, are acceptable.
Naturally as humans, we assume the worst and think of negatives initially.  This has been happening for hundreds of years and I think that we can all agree that it will never end.  Sometimes, I believe that people need to have tougher skin and to try to not let people's opinions get the best of them, although I know that it can be one of the hardest things to accomplish.  The world is filled with hostility, hate, corruption, and injustices and because of this, hate speech will never end.