F*ck you, sir.

A few weeks ago, I read this blurb on Consumerist about a Texas woman who was arrested last year, way back in August, for saying the f-word within the hearing range of a fire marshal, who apparently have the right to arrest people. I think someones briefs are a little too tight, particularly since the conversation in which the expletive was uttered was with another adult, and not directed at anyone in any nature. He handcuffed her after a brief altercation and took her out to his car to write her a citation. This was while people were trying to prepare for a tropical storm landing. The charges were dropped last month after a judge basically decided that where was no case.
Believe it or not, your right to free speech is being attacked constantly, from small incidents like this, to the thousands of book censorship requests every year, to seemingly arbitrary and cautious things like self-censorship. I've always had a problem with censorship, long before I ever read Fahrenheit 451. If left unchallenged, censorship leads to state-controlled media much like in Iran, North Korea, China and others. People love to have the ability to control others, it's one of the sinister sides of our nature.
Controlling how we act leads to controlling how we speak, which eventually leads to controlling how we think. Still haven't read 1984? Maybe you should. Censorship is all part of control, and it is rarely for purely altruistic reasons. They say you shouldn't read this because it's 'offensive,' but what they really mean is that it has ideas they don't like. You shouldn't say this word or that one, because it's offensive, but it's merely that they find it offensive.
I don't hear atheists walking around telling Christians that their beliefs are offensive (at least, not very often), but Christians don't mind one bit tell everyone else they don't agree with how they feel. Why? Because they're the majority, and feel they can. And they can say whatever they want, but I also have the right to disagree with them, just as loudly and obdurately as they do with me. And the next time someone gives be a dirty look or 'excuses me' because they are eavesdropping onto my conversation and overheard a swear, I will let them know exactly how I feel. "Hey, mind your your goddamn business."