To the editor:
Are we to hold accountable those people who intentionally try to hurt us with their words? ("We cannot continue to treat all offensive speech acts—intentional or not—as equally blameworthy," Opinion, March 7)
This desire to punish is tacit admission that our offenders have succeeded and that we have, in fact, been offended. No self-respecting person would willingly grant an aggressor such satisfaction. As the aphorism ascribed to Eleanor Roosevelt advises, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
By this logic, we certainly should not punish those whose words are spoken without malice.
President Trump would cheerfully abridge free speech if he could. He said, "It is frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write." Agreeing with this man is dangerous. He owes his election win in no small part to the contempt held by Middle America for the whimpering of the politically correct community.
Kevin T. Freeman, Huntington Beach
Note from KBJ: President Trump has as much right to bash his critics as they have to bash him. Only in Kevin T. Freeman's fevered mind does this make Trump dangerous.
