Seer of the tapes! Knower of the episodes!
I’m not familiar with the idiom “spitting on the wrong horn.” Here’s the context of the quote:
But weigh this [the evils of liberty] against the oppression of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem [“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery”]. Even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to the public affairs. I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
I feel like you’re arguing a point I haven’t taken a position on. I’m only saying that arrests like this seem insane to an American sensibility.
The conservatives gave it the power to prosecute people for protesting climate change and made it inadmissible evidence for them to explain the reasons for their protest
But I will say that changing the law like that is also insane to an American sensibility.
It’s less about thinking she shouldn’t be punished for her speech, and more about thinking that the state shouldn’t have the power to punish speech. To quote Thomas Jefferson, “I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
It’s not a question of what speech I think should be allowed, but rather a question of what powers I think the state should have.
I’m not confusing them. But I’m also not a fan of using the power if the state to punish people I disagree with, even if they say vile things. Such power will inevitably be abused, turned against me, etc.
It’s safer in the long run to preserve free speech and expression, even if it means people get away with being asshats.
I don’t think that would do a lot in terms of protecting unpopular speech.
The problem is in who decides what speech should be punished.
The value of the DNS is that we all use the same one. You can declare independence, but you’d lose out on that value.
Ask Robespierre how that works out in the end.