Do you guys think it's wrong to simply tell people to shut up? Sometimes they yell, they scream, they say stuff they should not... Why can't we just tell them to shut up? OK, they would not get any votes with that right? As us as citizens would not gain anything by doing it either, but it's tempting!
You can tell people to shut up all you want, it doesn't mean it will do any good, but you can do it all day. The only reason more people don't do it is because they don't want to be perceived as being rude. Some of us don't care about that though.
The First Amendment protects the right for people to say stupid things. They've got a right to speak just as much as you have the right to tell them to shut up. I don't think you'll achieve anything meaningful, but hey, that's your choice, haha.
There's always a right and a wrong way to say things is what it ultimately comes down to. Trust me I'm no goodie goodie but you can get people to do what you want by picking your words correctly. There are times though when people are being completely out of line. In this case if speaking nicely doesn't work then belittling them for not heeding your merciful words before always works! People tend to shut up when you make them feel like crap; it's always my last resort.
I think a lot of it comes down to the people who say the stupidest things being so dumb that they don't realize how stupid what they say actually is. I tend to just ignore the stupid people though.
This is what I was going to say, but Abqu already said it, so I'll just quote that and say that I agree. We have the right to leave the room if someone is saying something we don't like... but we can't really dictate whether or not they say it, or how they say it. By that same token, we have a right to tell someone to shut up, but I can't even imagine that it would ever end well. The person's going to be offended and either start a word war or punch us in the teeth. I mean really, can you see someone saying "Oh sure, I'll shut up right away, thank you for minding my business for me".... not gonna happen! Even without constitutional rights, it's rude and sometimes arrogant to think we should have the power over whether someone else talks or how they say what they want to say.
Yeah, the first thing that comes to my mind is me telling politicians to shut up and being arrested while doing it. That is why most people dissociate themselves with politics, they prefer not to worry about it.
The phrase, "Shut up!" and it's iterations imply a serious level of disrespect. Nothing good can come of it, because the conversation shifts from a discussion of ideas to a confrontation.
Many years ago, my father gave me a profound piece of advice—"Ignore the idiots." He was right. Engaging them in any respect (business, personal, political, et al.) is a losing proposition.
People have the right to say whatever they well please, whether they are right in doing so or not. I know it's not easy to listen to some things sometimes but you can't really shut them up, all you can do ignore them.
