"An obvious nut job" would likely be more susceptible to public rhetoric not less. We don't know if the bomber is actually "an obvious nut job." But if he's incapable of discerning right from wrong, then he'd have trouble dismissing public figures' verbal attacks as just trollinghttps://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1055835847570817024 …
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Watching the Kav hearings it became clear to me that the left has taken our political world in a new direction. We have to call them out with clear and direct language. The “resist” mentality has gone mainstream and our being demure (for lack of a better word) won’t work.
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Calling out people’s behavior in direct language is very different from insisting they’re literally in league with the devil, openly fantasizing about civil war, and spreading images that could easily be interpreted as a call for violence.
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I think that the examples you are citing are interpretations of speech, not actual speech... When did Trump say he wanted Civil War or call for violence?
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Didn’t say he did. But since you brought it up, he’s never done the former, but has praised people for violence (eg Gianforte) while offering to pay legal expenses for supporters who use violence. Maybe he doesn’t mean it literally. If so, my point is not everyone will get that.
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I go back to my point about blaming speech for the actions of others. I don’t think there is a straight line cause and effect. Especially, if this person has a mental illness.
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Everyone is responsible for their own actions. When someone commits violence, they bear primary responsibility. But it’s naive to think prominent figures’ speech never influenced anyone. Both are true. It’s not either/or.
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Well, it’s designed to influence others... who are sane. Do we really think we have to adjust our speech to accomodate the mentally ill, who will interpret even benign language through a sick filter?
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Public figures should consider how their speech will be received by various audiences. Won’t always get it right, but should try. To the extent that speech influences mentally ill people, I’m skeptical that peaceful and violent images influence them to violence at similar rates.
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With that said, to blame actions on speech is a slippery slope that gives me pause. This is what has been used overseas to do things like make it illegal to use the term “fake news”.
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