[split] PSA: Hate Speech (discussion of video etc)

[pocaracas]

Can I use the short skirt example again?
"someone that purposefully uses [short skirts] in a manner that makes [rape] more likely shares in the resposibility "

Victim blaming.

No. Putting on a skirt is an apparel choice, not an abusive behavior.

I know that.
But that's the spin that people put on when they do victim blaming - The victim was at fault for their own "misfortune".

Let's not forget that Just Some Bully's verbally abusive tirade was being ignored/dismissed to start with.
His response was to further escalate the situation by resorting to hate speech and attempting dehumanize and humiliate every person in that bar with black skin.

And the appropriate behavior would have been to continue ignoring.

His behavior was clearly in breach of the peace, to my observation. In Virginia, he could have easily been charged with Curse and Abuse. 

And so, you think it's not too bad if those fine folk took the law (let's say that it was happening in Virginia) into their own hands, huh?
Most countries have a law against that sort of thing.

If he didn't want violence, he shouldn't have engaged in vile and likely unlawful behavior to such a degree. 
Common sense.

Victim blaming at its finest.

I'm not saying what the man did was right, it was insulting to a large degree and was wide open to be insulted back.
But it was just words. And one single word triggered everyone at once. That one word. Had it been the first word out of his mouth, he would have probably not been able to say any other. It's that one word that americans seem to have classed as "hate speech and attempting dehumanize and humiliate every person [...] with black skin", right?
One word, somehow magically does all that, right?
You know, I'm under the impression that practically ALL insults have some of those goals, if not all.

Here's an example:
"son of a bitch" - literally calling the guy a dog, an non-human animal that walks on 4 legs and eats its own poop AND is applicable to anyone, regardless of skin color. How does this insult not get the same or even worse visceral reactions on video?!
It ticks almost all the boxes: dehumanizing, check! humiliate, check!, hate speech, check! Applies to everyone, not just those with black skin, so it should even have a greater prevalence in the violence in exchange for words video catalog... does it?

But that one word has the magical power to be worse than this insult I presented, just because it... what?... while implying the same basic things, is targeted at people with at least a given level of skin shade??

Can you guys understand how I view the reaction we see in that video (and your acceptance of it) as excessive?

You can call that victim-blaming if you like, but the truth is he chose to continue to aggressively infringe on rights of strangers to go about their lives and peacefully mind their business free from abuse; verbal or otherwise. Just Some Bully was not the sole victim in that scenario.

In that case in particular, it seems like he was nearly run over by a car driven by those "strangers going about their lives and peacefully minding their own business"... and was understandably pissed about it and made it known... not by the smartest choice of words, but there you go.
Words as a response for a near miss like that is acceptable. Violence for words is not.

Physical assault due solely to verbal aggression is an excessive response in any case.
^this is what I've been saying all along.

And, if your society feels mostly ok with violence being an appropriate response to a few choice words, then I think this is a problem in your society that needs some attention.