Definitions don't matter. The definition is whatever the dictionary says it is. Which is, in turn, the lexicographer's best understanding of how people used the word at the time. None of it has any bearing on what you really want to know.
What you really want to know is that there is a longstanding tension between speech as pure, value-neutral information with no physical effects, and the large number of cases where speech does have a real-world effect. These conflicts aren't easily resolved, and aren't helped by simplistic, absolutist approaches.
Don't expect any solution to be uncontroversial. Don't expect any solution to make you happy. Starting from there, we can ask: what is a state that we can all live with, that offers the maximum freedom to every person -- with the understanding that it won't be absolute freedom for the same reason that your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins. And despite words not being the same as a punch in the nose, they do have real-world effects.
Comments
Definitions don't matter. The definition is whatever the dictionary says it is. Which is, in turn, the lexicographer's best understanding of how people used the word at the time. None of it has any bearing on what you really want to know.
What you really want to know is that there is a longstanding tension between speech as pure, value-neutral information with no physical effects, and the large number of cases where speech does have a real-world effect. These conflicts aren't easily resolved, and aren't helped by simplistic, absolutist approaches.
Don't expect any solution to be uncontroversial. Don't expect any solution to make you happy. Starting from there, we can ask: what is a state that we can all live with, that offers the maximum freedom to every person -- with the understanding that it won't be absolute freedom for the same reason that your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins. And despite words not being the same as a punch in the nose, they do have real-world effects.