Re:Is America having second thoughts about free speech?
by KingMob on Monday February 12, 2018 @09:06PM
(#16364196)
> Indeed, if the physical world is kept safe, then no speech will be scary.
We are very, VERY far from that world, so you may want to reconsider for now. If some drunkard says to your face "I'm going to beat the shit out of you!", don't you at least consider he might do it?
I didn't make that claim, although I regret trying to trim down my comment because now I can't easily quote what I really said. Indeed, it's quite disingenuous to put those words in quotes!
I claimed that it's not calling for violence that silences people, but the resulting violence itself. As a result if we just cool down the violence then no new restrictions on speech are necessary. Indeed, if the physical world is kept safe, then no speech will be scary.
You might not think we can be trusted to keep the real world safe, but then how can you expect the same imperfect society to keep speech tamped down?