I for one understand your point of view, and don't think you deserved any downmods either.
You've been bravely standing behind your words, even in the face of the "public shaming" of so many downmods. That's respectable.
Besides, should a downvote be used to express mere disagreement, or reserved for posts that one thinks are really inappropriate or maybe jarringly stupid?
In any case, I agree that insulting someone or calling them names should not be a crime, and that spitting on someone shouldn't be considered an "assault" (with the provisions you mentioned).
There can be a fine line between something you disagree with and something that is jarringly stupid. "The world is flat" and "The world is a sphere" are both wrong, but they both are also reasonable approximations at some level.
Under some interpretations of US law, a 22 year old taking nude photo's of them self could be prosecuted for creating child porn if they look 16.
I think if you asked a thousand people off the street:
Is that accurate? Is that moral? Is that a travesty of justice? Is that reasonable?
You would get yes, no, and sort of to all of those questions and it's not really a "major" hot topic.
You've been bravely standing behind your words, even in the face of the "public shaming" of so many downmods. That's respectable.
Besides, should a downvote be used to express mere disagreement, or reserved for posts that one thinks are really inappropriate or maybe jarringly stupid?
In any case, I agree that insulting someone or calling them names should not be a crime, and that spitting on someone shouldn't be considered an "assault" (with the provisions you mentioned).