Young Bob said that police told him it was 'by far the most high-profile assault case they've seen'.

Young Bob Manchester assault: Three people arrested after remigration activist set upon by youths

  • John Richard@lemmy.world
    41·
    14 days ago

    Equating opinions to physical violence destroys the entire foundation of a democratic society.

    Who gets to decide which words count as “violence”? You? The government? A mob? If “violence is more than physical,” then right-wingers can just claim progressive speech is “violence” against their values.

    Words are not physical violence. Claiming “violence is more than physical” is just a manufactured rationalization to physically beat people with opposing ideas while pretending it’s self-defense. Redefining the dictionary to make yourself feel better doesn’t change reality. Only one of those tactics is authoritarian, and it isn’t the person talking.

    • dbdr@nord.pubEnglish
      7·
      14 days ago

      Words are not physical violence

      The person you respond to didn’t say that words are physical violence.

      Do you believe the only form of violence is physical violence?

      • John Richard@lemmy.world
        32·
        14 days ago

        The person you respond to didn’t say that words are physical violence.

        Do you believe the only form of violence is physical violence?

        Yes. Violence, by definition, requires physical force. You are deliberately confusing “violence” with “harm.”

        Can words cause emotional harm? Sure. But if Bob Nobody saying something offensive on a public street genuinely damages your self-perception, that harm is entirely self-inflicted. A functioning adult has the emotional regulation and agency to simply walk away. Redefining your own emotional fragility as “violence” is just a manipulative excuse.

        • Zombie@feddit.uk
          3·
          13 days ago

          Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation";[1] it recognizes the need to include violence not resulting in injury or death.[2]

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence

        • dbdr@nord.pubEnglish
          1·
          13 days ago

          Yes. Violence, by definition, requires physical force

          It’s possible to define it like that, but it’s definitely not universally the case and seems overly restrictive. Just one example from the WHO’s World report on violence and health:

          Violence at work involves not only physical but also psychological behaviour. Many workers are subjected to bullying, sexual harassment, threats, intimidation and other forms of psychological violence.