Freedom of Speech

In the current issue of The New Yorker is an essay written by Mark Twain in 1905 entitled "The Privilege of the Grave." In it, Twain comments on the delusion of free speech for those who are still living. Enjoy some of Twain's brilliance:
Its occupant [speaking of the grave] has one privilege which is not exercised by any living person: free speech. The living man is not really without this privilege - strictly speaking - but as he possesses it merely as an empty formality, and knows better than to make use of it, it cannot be seriously regarded as an actual possession. . . . Murder is forbidden both in form and in fact; free speech is granted in form but forbidden in fact. By the common estimate both are crimes, and are held in deep odium by all civilized peoples. Murder is sometimes punished, free speech always - when committed. Which is seldom. There are not fewer than five thousand murders to one (unpopular) free utterance. There is justification for this reluctance to utter unpopular opinions: the cost of utterance is too heavy; it can ruin a man in his business, it can lose him his friends, it can subject him to public insult and abuse, it can ostracize his unoffending family, and make his house a despised and unvisited solitude.

Twain made this observation long before the advent of the internet and blogging. It seems now, that, while one person's opinion will surely enrage someone, someone else will see it as a pure elixir of golden thought. So, do Twain's observations still hold true?

Do you refrain from expressing your true feelings on matters because you know the people around you will reject you? Should that be the case? Do you wish that you had the courage and the opportunity to voice what you truly believe on any subject to everyone you know? If so, what would you say?