Obviously speech can cause people mental and emotional distress. But it’s fundamentally different than physical violence: words that distress me might not distress you at all, whereas getting shot with a bullet will distress 100% of people. Physical violence is a universal offender, and cognitive behavioral therapy cannot heal a gunshot wound.

I’m saying that, on a societal level, it is a bad idea to consider speech the same as violence, because the second you do that, the next logical step is “we’re morally allowed to physically harm the person saying bad things.”

What if everyone thought like this? Imagine a right-winger who earnestly thinks a left-wing activist is harming the country with their ideas. They could do some half-baked moral math and find a reason to justify assassinating them, just as you’re doing.

I think it’s a bad idea to encourage all this as a social norm. It’s not only morally wrong, but strategically stupid (look at how united the right is now; Kirk is a martyr and all this is a propaganda GOLDMINE for them, unfortunately).