We must be allowed to insult each other?

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doormouse73

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Reminds me of Archbishop Chaput’s anecdote story in his book…Living Our Catholic Faith…re: singer Don Henley’s song about the devil getting up one day and deciding he is going to Los Angeles to wreak havoc and destroy all the souls that he can…he arrives…walks all over every part of the City…then goes away sad…because the people living there had already done all his work for him…there was nothing left for him to do.

(three instigators/temptations of sin…the devil…the world…the flesh)

Overstatement…yeah, but sadly a lot of truth in that song’s observation…we can do quite well without the devils help because of our concupiscence. I bet…this guy…Rowan Atkinson…will find that is initiative is not much needed…his work has already been done for him…law or no law…if you get my point.

That being said…Atkinson is “a few bricks short of a full load”…if you get my point.

Pax Christi
 
I agree that we cannot sanely outlaw any speech or action that might offend someone for in so many cases, “offense is eye of the beholder.”
 
doormouse73 said:
Rowan Atkinson has launched a campaign for a change in the law that bans “insulting words and behaviour”.

do you think this is a step in the right direction?

personally i do.you cannot even breath here in the UK,without offending somebody.

but it does seem that Christians can be offended any time of the year…or held in contempt of even breathing in public…

link…

telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9616750/Rowan-Atkinson-we-must-be-allowed-to-insult-each-other.html
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Hard to take Mr. Bean seriously about anything…

:rolleyes:
 
"But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. "

(Raca - This is a Syriac word, expressive of great contempt. It comes from a verb signifying to be empty, vain; and hence, as a word of contempt, denotes senseless, stupid, shallow-brains. Jesus teaches here that to use such words is a violation of the spirit of the sixth commandment, and if indulged, may lead to a more open and dreadful infraction of that law. )

While the Law cannot stop us from doing evil (that is the point of St. Paul’s writings on “not being under the law, but under grace”), it is not good to promote the removal of laws that are meant to stop greater evil from spreading.
 
R_C said:
"But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. "
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Here, you are talking about a deliberate insult. The concern with laws against insulting language is that so many offenses are unintentional. For example, I live in South Florida and found out the hard way that some Cubans are insulted if referred to as “Hispanic.” I don’t think it follows from this that the term “Hispanic” should be labeled offensive and stricken from polite speech. Some people use “fundamentalist” as an insult while others embrace the term and say it with pride.
 
While I argue and correct people when I think they are wrong, and tell them it should be X and not Y I do not agree with having thought and speech police.

Just because I find something offensive (or wrong in my opinion) it doesn’t mean

A. it is, or

B. if it is that it shouldn’t be said or written.

At least if I feel offended I have the freedom to respond, turn away, turn off the computer or whatever.

But if I never feel offended then I’m probably without all kinds of freedoms (and just haven’t noticed yet) , or deaf, or brain dead.

Be worried about a culture that will never offend you.

Even Christ offended people.

BTW Rowan Atkinson is a very clever individual, and if you’ve only seen his Bean or Johnny English work then you’ve missed his best stuff. It’s Bean that buys his Bentleys (he’s a collector! - some people collect stamps!), but his other stuff is brilliant.
 
In the US, the courts have adopted a very broad interpretation of the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech. This is why we don’t have laws against hate speech, unlike other countries in the West. Rowan Atkinson seems to be adopting a view which is held by many Americans: no one has a right not to be offended.

I am not familiar with the laws of the UK or how they are applied. But I have heard occasional examples of excessive enforcement. I don’t know if those cases have been resolved in an agreeable fashion, or if they had to be litigated (as has happened in Canada.) But we have had many posts here at CAF complaining about those instances which seemed excessive restrictions on what was written or said, particularly against Christians regarding moral issues.
 
markeverett49 said:
Here, you are talking about a deliberate insult. The concern with laws against insulting language is that so many offenses are unintentional. For example, I live in South Florida and found out the hard way that some Cubans are insulted if referred to as “Hispanic.” I don’t think it follows from this that the term “Hispanic” should be labeled offensive and stricken from polite speech. Some people use “fundamentalist” as an insult while others embrace the term and say it with pride.
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It is true that “to the pure all things are pure”…however some things must be clearly labeled as improper, don’t you think?

I am personally disturbed by some Hispanics who speak of a “council of the race”, of a “day of the race”, etc… I can therefore understand that some may be offended to be referred to as “Hispanic” if they consider that the term carries racial connotations. It’s like I cross in the census that I am white, but I wouldn’t like a politician to say that “the whites are supporting him” … that would sound, if not offensive, at least inappropriate 😃

Yet, am not necessarily expressing a blind support for such a legislation…because it all boils down to intention! In my country, there are words that friends would call each other as a sign of friendship, that would be the greatest possible insult if said to a stranger 😃
 
I think we could speak to each other with more charity as a general rule…but a law would be impossible to draft or enforce.
 
agnes_therese said:
No. Who gets to decide what’s “insulting”?
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That’s the point of the article. I AGREE with that. My comment was to someone who didn’t take the message seriously because the messenger (-a comic actor) isn’t serious. Hence my suggestion to consider the same message coming from a respected person.

We’ve come a long way from “sticks and stones,” eh?
 
markeverett49 said:
In that case, imagine one of your friends or a co-worker making the same claim. Would it then sound reasonable?
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Most of my friends are at least somewhat Bean-like…Non-functioning…Birds of a feather and all.

😉
 
agnes_therese said:
No. Who gets to decide what’s “insulting”?
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that is why i put up the post…

it stinks to high heaven…

this is why R A is doing what he is doing…

by the way R Atkinson is very very clever indeed. don’t look at him as he is stupid like the Mr Bean character he plays. lol.
 
I must apologize. I misunderstood the OP and didn’t read the article. So many of our celebrities over here are 100% in the tank for progressive government control of our lives…I assumed that Atkinson was in support of restriction of speech.

It is the opposite.

I used to enjoy his work in “BlackAdder,” but the character of Mr. Bean has now overshadowed his previous acting…most Americans don’t know him otherwise. He’s a brilliant actor and Mr. Bean is a wonderful character - both clownish and deep at the same time. What a clown should be.

👍
 
TheRealJuliane said:
I must apologize. I misunderstood the OP and didn’t read the article. So many of our celebrities over here are 100% in the tank for progressive government control of our lives…I assumed that Atkinson was in support of restriction of speech.

It is the opposite.

I used to enjoy his work in “BlackAdder,” but the character of Mr. Bean has now overshadowed his previous acting…most Americans don’t know him otherwise. He’s a brilliant actor and Mr. Bean is a wonderful character -** both clownish and deep at the same time. What a clown should be.**

👍
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I agree: and clowns - or “fools” often pointed out the inadequacis of the powerful, or the ruling class. St. Francis as a “jongeleur” was “God’s fool.” And he insulted people! Or more accurately they felt themselves to be offended.

One time St. Francis preached naked in the Cathedral, stood at the front of the congregation and said ,“Baaaaa, Baaaaa, Baaaaa!”
 
the court jester was the only one who could make fun out of the king…

any body else would have been executed…
 
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