No one was stopping her from having an opinion.  But perhaps it was how she expressed her opinion that drove her friends away.  Maybe her friends didn't realize what type of person she was until she made it clear.   Or maybe she was an a___ and was using this as the reason why people avoided her.  Who can tell from a single quote?

However, if a lot of you (right, left, whatever) spoke to the people around you face-to-face the way you comment here, you'd be pretty lonely.