There is an increasing tendency to attempt to control others by harassment, rudeness, disinformation, and violence. These methods cannot be allowed to work, or everyone’s basic right to make their case in potentially any area of life - no matter how minor or major - will be affected. Just as we should not allow university students to smash things because they don’t like a speaker intending to talk about their group (Antifa, UBC), we must not allow online harassment of lawyers for accepting a particular client. In both cases, means of making people feel threatened or coerced are being used as a replacement for reasoning and reason-based discourse. Allowing this behaviour effectively condones and therefore spreads it. If this is allowed to continue, when does it get to the point at which we cannot even *talk* about the need to act reasonably?
There is an increasing tendency to attempt to control others by harassment, rudeness, disinformation, and violence. These methods cannot be allowed to work, or everyone’s basic right to make their case in potentially any area of life - no matter how minor or major - will be affected. Just as we should not allow university students to smash things because they don’t like a speaker intending to talk about their group (Antifa, UBC), we must not allow online harassment of lawyers for accepting a particular client. In both cases, means of making people feel threatened or coerced are being used as a replacement for reasoning and reason-based discourse. Allowing this behaviour effectively condones and therefore spreads it. If this is allowed to continue, when does it get to the point at which we cannot even *talk* about the need to act reasonably?