Originally Posted by Jel

Isn't the point though that she is allowed to freely express her own opinion(s), however distateful they might be? And at 16, she is hardly going to be as clued-up as she will be in future years, where she'll 99% regret saying what she did, let alone thinking that way. I think the key words in her case are ignorant, clueless, and stupid, rather than out and out hateful.

Then again I do give lots of people the benefit of doubt, somewhat naively a lot of the time, I must confess.