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Comment by throwaway173738 | Hacker News Reader

Yes, exactly. Try calling a cop a “pig” to their face. Or breaking up with a cop. Or just say no to something they’re asking you to do.

“Not all cops” and all that, but enough of them are like that that you have to be really careful how you engage with them.

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> Try calling a cop a “pig” to their face.

At least where I live in Europe you aren't allowed to insult people and you can get fined for it. Be it a police officer or a any other person.

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

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?

The first thing you described is an insult.

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

> 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?

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.

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

being fined != physical, possibly fatal violence with body-cam turned off and irrevocable immunity

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