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Yeah, the Wikipedia page on 'fighting words' goes on to describe how the doctrine has since been limited. Shouting 'you are a fascist' at a cop probably wouldn'
by leggomylibro 9y ago
Yeah, the Wikipedia page on 'fighting words' goes on to describe how the doctrine has since been limited. Shouting 'you are a fascist' at a cop probably wouldn't pass muster as unprotected speech these days (if you managed to make it to court alive and weren't preaching gibberish to a large crowd that was blocking traffic at the time.)
Still, speech isn't somehow inherently harmless or different from other actions that we take. It's bad to take someone's things with a knife, but I'd say that it's even worse to take someone's humanity with a word.
- ebcode 9y agoBut you can't actually take someone's humanity with a word. That's hyperbole. Knife-point robbery is not. "You cannot, sir, take from me anything that will not more willingly part withal – except my life, except my life, except my life." -- William Shakespeare
- leggomylibro 9y agoWell no, I can't. But a demagogue sure can. I guess it would be more accurate to say that they take humanity from a lot of people who belong to certain classes with a lot of words, but that's a messier metaphor.