[ryukoposting]

I cannot imagine living in a place where I can't tell someone what I think of them once in a while.

[maest]

You can tell them they are doing a shameful job or that you disagree with their actions or whatever.

You just can't _insult_ them like a 6 year old on a playground. Why is the ability to do so valuable to you?

[eudamoniac]

It is viscerally against my cultural upbringing for the government to make illegal a verbal insult, it seems like an incredible overreach. I'm genuinely culture shocked hearing this. I'd be no more shocked hearing that it's illegal to dye one's hair.

[maest]

Fyi, insults are illegal in the US, under certain conditions, under the fighting words doctrine.

[malcolmgreaves]

The first thing you described is an insult.

[maest]

No, an insult implies insolence, rudeness, condescension, insensitivity. You can communicate a dim view of someone without being rude.

[Shocka1]

> You can communicate a dim view of someone without being rude.

I would agree in theory, but whom is the judge of whether communicating that dim view is an insult or not?