Yeah, it's a paradox all over. Free of what? You can't be free of consequence, free of the laws of the system (natural or artificial) that you exist in. You can't go out of every system. The Universe is a system. So freedom has been defined by philosophers as being possible or ethical up to where you would limit another person's freedom.
And when it comes to freedom of speech there is so much hypocrisy, and you said as much. Anything that can be said offends somebody. If you were not to offend anybody, you might as well remain silent all through your life. And some choose to do so, more or less. In order to teach, you have to offend. In order to persuade, you have to offend. And those who are easily offended...they just can't listen. Listening is not as easy as repeating your mantras over and over. It's kind of...the opposite. And if you can listen and continue repeating your mantras...that's mastery ;)