Considering that there's a very large segment of the HN population that lives in a country (the US) that (ostensibly) believes that not to be the case, I would

Considering that there's a very large segment of the HN population that lives in a country (the US) that (ostensibly) believes that not to be the case, I would give good odds they were seriously asking that. The First Amendment is a hill I would personally die on, but I think it's very useful to discuss with people from other countries' their beliefs and laws of freedom of expression, if only for Americans to learn that intelligent people can hold informed opinions on the rights to expression that are in some ways fundamentally incompatible with our own. I personally find it fascinating given how almost axiomatic I think of it...that's ideology for you, I guess :)