{"id":4743,"date":"2018-02-26T10:12:23","date_gmt":"2018-02-26T10:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2018\/02\/26\/on-verbal-aggression\/"},"modified":"2018-02-26T10:12:23","modified_gmt":"2018-02-26T10:12:23","slug":"on-verbal-aggression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2018\/02\/26\/on-verbal-aggression\/","title":{"rendered":"On Verbal Aggression"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Paul Wolff<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Verbal aggression, speaking generally, is a good thing, especially as an alternative to physical aggression.  The general rule about verbal aggression \u2013 satire, snark, ridicule, obscenity \u2013 is:  punch up, not down. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A rule is one thing, its application another. How apply the Stoned Philosopher's rule? Suppose I ridicule Nancy Pelosi.  Am I punching up or down?  Arguably down inasmuch as she is an obviously stupid woman who is also vile. She is my intellectual and moral inferior. So I am punching down.<\/span><\/p>\n

I will be told that I am punching up inasmuch as she has wealth and power far in excess of mine, and that therefore my verbal aggression is justified.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever you say. The main thing is to keep up the verbal punching against our domestic enemies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
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<\/a>The Left Eats Its Own: Andrew Sullivan<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>The Left's Weaponization of Institutions and Language<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Paul Wolff: Verbal aggression, speaking generally, is a good thing, especially as an alternative to physical aggression.  The general rule about verbal aggression \u2013 satire, snark, ridicule, obscenity \u2013 is:  punch up, not down.  A rule is one thing, its application another. How apply the Stoned Philosopher's rule? Suppose I ridicule Nancy Pelosi.  Am … Continue reading “On Verbal Aggression”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[245],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-polemics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}