Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Your conflating harming people with causing them anger is very much part of the problem. 'Harm' used to mean something much more severe; now it basically means anything at or above pissing someone off.

The same concept creep has occurred when it comes to the word 'violence' too. As a society, we long ago drew red lines at behaviours that are violent or harm people, but thanks to these deliberate redefinitions, extreme responses are somehow justified to utterly non-consequential speech, because people accept that speech can cause 'harm' or is 'violent'.

It's such a cheap rhetorical trick that does nothing but chill public discourse while doing nothing to positively impact the lives of the people it's ostensibly supposed to protect.



Even the absence of speech has also been described in those same terms. This category of rhetorical double bind is counterproductive to progress.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: