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Originally Posted by seebs
I am not fond of the whole "hitting people with pies" thing. I mean, not to say Coulter's not pretty scummy, but... I dunno. I don't like felony assault charges for something obviously not meant to cause real harm, but I don't like people attacking others even with non-lethal weapons.
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I thought about that for a while today after I watched the video linked in this thread. I'm not a big fan of it either. I believe in free speech, and it seems like physical attacks, however impotent, put restrictions on that freedom. Besides that it just seems cruel. The first and only time I ever felt sympathy for Bill Gates, for example, was when I saw the look of abject terror in his face when he was pied in France. I'm sure he thought he was in for much worse.
But then I think... yeah but it's just a pie. It's probably scary and disturbing, and it does inhibit someones ability to speak freely for a time, but then things return to normal, no permanent damage is done (ideally) and perhaps an important point has been made.
In the end, though, I guess I don't think it's cool. Assault is assault. I really don't think people should have to fear physical attacks when speaking freely in a country that prizes free speech as highly as we do. Still, neither would I like to see a pie thrower get a felonious assault charge.