In the process of forbidding these, free speech is put on the slippery slope that I have described. As such, let the instigators instigate. When they resort to violence, they break the law and should be dealt with as such. — Tzeentch
They will be dealt with, but will they be dealt with sufficiently or will it be too late to reprimand these instigators?
This is yet another slippery slope, where you allow the rotten tree to fall and smash your house, settling to deal with the aftermath. Perhaps it would be more prodigal to prevent injury, rather than to mend it?
People can have heated debate about anything. The fragile ego will find ways to express itself. If people were to desire freedom from contention, then perhaps everyone should lose their tongue at birth. No, in order for free speech to be worth anything, we must risk contention and offense, and deal with it like adults, instead of like children.
In the words of Descartes: "Whenever anybody has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it."
The safety of the people may be safeguarded by an effective police force and justice system. — Tzeentch
Perhaps, there is a necessary risk involved with freedom.
I doubt that dictates that inflammatory actions ought be acquitted.
That one has the freedom to kill, does not dictate that one should freely kill - does it?
The innability to coexist, will inevitably end in repercussions for all parties involved.
Dealing with it like adults, children, men or beasts is equally faulty - as it has nothing to do with either.
And the job of the justice system is to enforce coexistence, through means of fear and repercussions - that unfortunately add to the tension, rather than to relieve it - as the general realisation of 'why' is left out. It's a dam that is prone to break, as it does often enough. How long until the whole thing falls apart, I wonder?
You were quite right that people ought to be educated, but I retain the question, what in?
Merely enhancing their intellect, will enhance their observation - fueling the violent to violence and the kind to kindness; it lone, is not enough.
It is no longer about Freedom of Speech, but Freely Speaking.
It is anarchical, and anarchy is self-cannibalising.
Freedom gets tossed out for the contention of freedom; and so your ideal is snared.
I will rephrase my point;
If one's intellect propels one to violent action, one may not be as wise as they think they are. — Tzeentch
One's wisdom is irrelevant, to the degree of violence or kindness.
Knowing of violence may enhance one's actions, though not control them.
So it is not intellect that propels one to violent action, and likewise it will not be intellect that will subdue it. Something else is required to play; a binder.
Firstly, I do not like the comparison between physical and psychological pain. Physical pain is, for most, an involuntary response that physiologically bypasses the intellect. Offense is a voluntary response. — Tzeentch
They are the same. Pain felt here or there, is all generated in the mind.
Obliviousness to injury, voluntary or involuntary, will not produce pain.
Expectation of injury, voluntary or involuntary, will produce pain.
It is an act of awareness that may be maintaned, similar to the volume level of your phone's ringtone.
Pain does not bypass the intellect, though how it interacts with it is undecided.
As to your question; why allow people to rub proverbial salt?
Humanity is imperfect, and as such it is only expected that some will make sub-optimal use of their freedoms.
But the real question here is, how come someone perceives words as being so powerful as to be like salt upon wounds?
Again, whatever is being said can be true, in which case it should be accepted no matter how much it hurts and one should be grateful instead of offended. — Tzeentch
How would one make sub-optimal use of one's freedom if one is truly free?
Do you see freedom as an allowance to be exchanged?
Perhaps some words are perceived as powerful, for they truly are powerful?
Perhaps they work similar to a poison, that attacks something other than the flesh - so it is harder for the injuries to be detected and thus taken consideration of, for they are not so obvious?
Maybe it is the frail ego that they lacerate, but would that not entail that it is the frail ego that lacerates its opposing ego?
I do agree, that one ought be grateful for the truth, though it may be painful.
But would it not be more beneficial to express the truth in a less brutish manner, that does not involve nailing down the message?
Is it not more so what you do with it, rather than what it is? In which case the offender would be just as guilty as the offended; indeed, both fail.
If it is false or opinion, then what is there to be offended about? The disposition of the other? If one thinks the offender is so totally wrong in their beliefs, wouldn't pity be a much more appropriate emotion rather than indignation? Seek to make him see the error of his ways rather than silence him.
If some offender is being purposefully hurtful, why put any value in his words? Much like with a high-school bully, ask oneself how his situation came to be, and soon enough one will find pity or compassion more suitable emotions than anger and indignation.
Finally, when one feels offended, it should cause a moment of self-reflection, because apparently one is not as confident about their beliefs as they tell themselves they are. Wouldn't one's response be otherwise to laugh? When someone tells me the earth is flat, I do not get offended, for I know it to be wrong. So why do I get offended now? — Tzeentch
Perhaps one gets offended at the false, as the wilfully false confuses the one?
If the one craves truth, and the falsely speaking comes to stomp around, the one may feel offended in the same way as if someone came to stomp down your garden; for the wilfully false trades in misfortune.
Pity if directed by the one, will be at most to the one.
Would compassion or pity be more suitable emotions? Perhaps.
Yet they are not void of indignation - for they mingle with indignation, with the intent of washing it away.
Is one offended merely because one is not confident enough? I don't know.
But I doubt the appropriate response would be to otherwise laugh; that feels equally as unconfident.