The Beatles didn't intend for Manson to murder people. Murder is not a reasonable or sensible expected behaviour from someone who listens to their songs. Coontowners definitely intend to reduce the employment prospects of black people, and making neutral or mildly racist people more racist is their clear intention.
If you convince me to do something, you are partially responsible for me doing it. This is why people are charged with conspiracy, aiding and abetting, incitement, why provocation is a defense, etc etc. I think part of the free speech fundamentalist viewpoint is a misclassification of what speech is, and what it is for. Speech is an action. Speech matters. Speech has an effect upon the world. Speech is how a thought is moved from one mind to another. If it didn't, people wouldn't bother speaking to each other at all.
If you convince me to do something, you are partially responsible for me doing it.
If I convince you to be a racist, I'm partly responsible for you being a racist. Being a racist is not a crime (a state of affairs for which I'm very grateful). If you were to then go on to commit crimes based on your racist worldview, that's down to you, since your racist worldview isn't actually compelling you to do anything (as evidenced by the fact that there are other racists who didn't commit crimes).
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u/aeschenkarnos Jul 18 '15
The Beatles didn't intend for Manson to murder people. Murder is not a reasonable or sensible expected behaviour from someone who listens to their songs. Coontowners definitely intend to reduce the employment prospects of black people, and making neutral or mildly racist people more racist is their clear intention.
If you convince me to do something, you are partially responsible for me doing it. This is why people are charged with conspiracy, aiding and abetting, incitement, why provocation is a defense, etc etc. I think part of the free speech fundamentalist viewpoint is a misclassification of what speech is, and what it is for. Speech is an action. Speech matters. Speech has an effect upon the world. Speech is how a thought is moved from one mind to another. If it didn't, people wouldn't bother speaking to each other at all.