What words are “violence” and who gets to decide? This claim that words are violence is the flip side of the widespread embrace of censorship by those on the political left. They don’t foresee that someday the political winds will change and this exaggerated empathy for those “hurt” by words will be turned against them by a ruthless right-wing authoritarian.

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Nico Perrino:

When students shouted down @AnnCoulter at @Cornell in 2022, one heckler screamed, “We don’t want you here, your words are violence.” Today, a shocking percentage of Americans agree with that heckler’s underlying premise: words can be violence. But words are not violence. They are what we use instead of violence. If words are violence, logic dictates we can use violence in response to words. Sigmund Freud once said “Civilization was started the day man first cast a word instead of a stone.” When the distinction between words and violence goes out the window, so too does democracy and civilization.