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Hey, hot take:
Someone going right up to you online and telling you "I think you're a mass murderer with blood on your hands, and you should be ashamed of yourself for helping kill all those innocent people" is not a normal situation
You shouldn't be expected to react normally
Someone going right up to you online and telling you "I think you're a mass murderer with blood on your hands, and you should be ashamed of yourself for helping kill all those innocent people" is not a normal situation
You shouldn't be expected to react normally
You can't be excused for *every single possible reaction* you might have to someone saying that to you
But of fucking course it's unreasonable to expect you to react with the civility one would demand from an ordinary conversation, even a heated and hostile conversation
But of fucking course it's unreasonable to expect you to react with the civility one would demand from an ordinary conversation, even a heated and hostile conversation
This is literally why we have a so-called "fighting words" provision in case law on the First Amendment
It's not that, taken in an absolute objective utilitarian sense, throwing a punch is ever "worth" the same as any words someone might say
But we're all only human
It's not that, taken in an absolute objective utilitarian sense, throwing a punch is ever "worth" the same as any words someone might say
But we're all only human
I'm just sick of people acting like they don't understand this
The Internet just shredding any semblance of a shared understanding of what constitutes giving offense
"Lol all I did was insult you and encourage you to kill yourself, you probably hear that 20 times a day"
The Internet just shredding any semblance of a shared understanding of what constitutes giving offense
"Lol all I did was insult you and encourage you to kill yourself, you probably hear that 20 times a day"
I remember the story of when one of the big moon landing skeptics managed to confront Buzz Aldrin on the sidewalk outside an event and demand that he confess that Apollo 11 was a hoax
And Buzz just punched him in the face in public
And Buzz just punched him in the face in public
And like
Sure I don't condone violence
And this wasn't a physical threat, Buzz Aldrin isn't a marginalized minority, punching him was, arguably, a serious overreaction he could've faced assault charges for
Sure I don't condone violence
And this wasn't a physical threat, Buzz Aldrin isn't a marginalized minority, punching him was, arguably, a serious overreaction he could've faced assault charges for
But come on
If "The moon landing is a hoax" isn't just a meme or punchline to you, if you think about what it means
Someone comes up to you and says "I think you're one of history's greatest liars
I think the most important thing in your life, you've lied barefaced about"
If "The moon landing is a hoax" isn't just a meme or punchline to you, if you think about what it means
Someone comes up to you and says "I think you're one of history's greatest liars
I think the most important thing in your life, you've lied barefaced about"
"I think you've been spending YEARS lying, to EVERYONE
To your wife, to all your friends, to millions of people
I think your entire life is built on an enormous lie, a lie that you don't seem ashamed of
I think you're just such a thoroughly shitty person that you'd do that"
To your wife, to all your friends, to millions of people
I think your entire life is built on an enormous lie, a lie that you don't seem ashamed of
I think you're just such a thoroughly shitty person that you'd do that"
Well shit
If that doesn't piss you off enough to be "fighting words" then what is "fighting words"
If that doesn't piss you off enough to be "fighting words" then what is "fighting words"
