It's one thing to have a right to free speech in America, but it never said in the constitution that you can say what you want in a private forum. Those rules were put in place to avoid topics and discussions that will almost always result in hard feelings and arguments that will not be resolved. It's better to avoid those topics then deal with the anguish of dealing with them. We come from all walks of life here and many different countries and to accomodate all of them, those rules were put in place. To original topic wasn't a problem that I see, but the hijacking of the thread caused the lock.
As far as the rules, in my opinion, it is a priviledge to be able to post here, not a right. It's owned by HTC, and they want to represent the company in the best possible manner so as to include everyone, not exclude anyone due to their opinions on topics. To avoid those posts altogether is a way to step towards that.