On freedom of expression and religious defamation

[Tiassa]

Is it really that difficult to ignore someone who is insulting you?

I'm frustrated because I cannot find a certain link that might alter the context of the discussion. A few years ago (2004-05, I think), a study came out suggesting that verbal abuse caused physical pain inasmuch as insulting words, while registering in an emotional center in the brain also caused activity in centers that registered physical pain.

The problem I'm having is that I think it was a BBC News article, but the only keywords I can think of are general as hell, so even if I'm right about it being the Beeb, it's a proverbial needle in a haystack.

People can only take so much. Like Norsefire. The last straw for him is when people insult his nation. Okay. Whatever. I'm an American, so I don't understand that. I simply prefer that people who complain about the U.S. or its people be remotely accurate in context and proportion. If I can follow from what seems a wild-eyed accusation to something comprehensible and reasonably true, I can be sympathetic. Nonetheless, I still don't understand Norsefire's threshold.

Beyond that, though, people might fear—and somewhat justly at that—the idea that others will hear and accept a hateful or insulting criticism, accusation, or whatever.

Take the gay fray, for instance. It is beyond bizarre that there are people who still want to compare homosexuality to rape. It is a bit disturbing to think that so many of my neighbors hold the idea of sexual consent in such poor regard. Now, I could be melodramatic and point out that I have a daughter, and, being a man, I'm familiar with how much my fellow men want to get laid. This could get frightening, thinking of all those guys who will vie for her favor who think nothing of her consent to sexual intercourse.

However, I'm not going to panic about this particular aspect. In truth, what upsets me about the vicious rhetoric is that people are still suffering the effects of discrimination, and the insults and hatred are only meant to forestall the day when homosexuals are regarded equally and with proper dignity.

Or women.

Or atheists.

Or various ethnic groups.

And so on.

Simply walking away isn't always possible. If it's some two-bit hatemonger in the street, sure. If it's the government, or a news outlet, or your kid's teacher, it's a bit different. Pretending the nuances of speech and insult are conditionally static—as the argument for benevolent apathy demands—only furthers the injustice that empowers the very denigration and defamation people are supposed to ignore.

 

[S.A.M.]

I'm frustrated because I cannot find a certain link that might alter the context of the discussion. A few years ago (2004-05, I think), a study came out suggesting that verbal abuse caused physical pain inasmuch as insulting words, while registering in an emotional center in the brain also caused activity in centers that registered physical pain..

Why is this a surprise? Is there anyone who has not been verbally abused?

I looked for a study after reading your post.

This is the effect on children.

Children who are verbally abused may suffer lasting negative effects in their brain’s ability to process language, researchers report.

They say the new findings illustrate the seriousness of this type of abuse and should encourage greater action to combat it.

Brain scans of people who were verbally abused as children showed that they have 10% less grey matter in the part of their brains involved in language, compared with non-abused adults. Martin Teicher at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, US, and colleagues used an exhaustive questionnaire to select 17 people who had suffered severe verbal abuse in childhood but not other forms of abuse.

Experts define verbal abuse as frequent disparaging or critical comments that are intended to demean and diminish the victim’s self-esteem, he explains. The team recruited 17 additional participants for the trial, matched for age and socioeconomic status, who had suffered no such abuse.

Teicher speculates that verbal abuse might inhibit development in the superior temporal gyrus, perhaps by triggering a pathway that stops growth hormones from reaching it.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10332&feedId=online-news_rss20

 

[MetaKron]

Firstly, people should not even be assholes to begin with. And if they are, they must accept the consequences. Saying "just walk away" is assuming that nothing can be done: instead, people should learn RESPECT and those who lack it should face the consequences for their own actions from those they insult.

"Just walk away" and you're likely to get a knife in your back.

 

[(Q)]

Firstly, people should not even be assholes to begin with. And if they are, they must accept the consequences. Saying "just walk away" is assuming that nothing can be done: instead, people should learn RESPECT and those who lack it should face the consequences for their own actions from those they insult.

If everyone who was ever considered an asshole deserved to die, there might only remain a single person left on the planet.

And only because there was no one else left alive to knife them in the back.

 

[MetaKron]

There is the option of facing them down, and there are gentler ways to handle situations.

I am not nearly as worried about the knife in the back as I am about worrying about the knife in my back, actually.

 

[mikenostic]

"Just walk away" and you're likely to get a knife in your back.

And if you physically respond to a verbal assault, you're likely to land your ass in jail.
If I started insulting someone and they got mad and walked over to me and punched me, pushed me, swung a weapon at me, THEY are guilty of assault and battery. That is illegal and they can go to jail for it.