The Bigsibling Blog

but words will never hurt me.

Johnathan Derbyshire has an excellent article in the New York Sun regarding hate speech, actions and words and the difference between them all in his review of Jerome Neu’s book "Sticks and Stones: The Philosophy of Insults".

One of the things he says really hit the nail on the head for me:

Mr. Neu’s skepticism about hate speech legislation, speech codes, and blasphemy laws is grounded in a very Millian understanding of what is involved in upholding freedom of speech. We should, he argues, see certain kinds of discomfort, offended feelings, and so on as being among the unavoidable costs of free thought, inquiry, and argument. The Muslim protesters who besieged the office of the editor of Jyllands-Posten were entitled to his respect, but not his "submission." Failing to recognize that these are not the same threatens to make free expression itself the "victim."

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