These words of Miranda to Prospero in The Tempest capture the dichotomy between reason and rage. The difficulty is that both reason and rage are on a single spectrum of thought. Rage can be reason amplified into a rave or it can be reason atrophied to the point of madness. For pedestrians, including courts, these “sea storms” often appear threatening and inexplicable. The anger seems to invite violence in others and courts often are asked to separate those who merely agitate from those who incite. It is difficult to see beyond the “sea storm” itself. For many, rage rhetoric is low-value speech with high costs for society. The resulting line drawing has occurred for centuries without rendering a clear distinction. Indeed, this is a question that continues to occupy courts and commentators as political violence increases in the United States. Courts are once again facing claims of sedition by the government, and other charges raise questions of the criminalization of speech.

Continue reading The Right to Rage: Free Speech and Rage Rhetoric in American Political Discourse