link to original reddit post by /u/ihaphleas
It seems that many of you, like I once did, have read Rothbard or the like and have a very narrow interpretation of the NAP. The NAP, according to some of you, refers only to *physical* aggression against persons or property ... or fraud.
That is, you use the NAP only in what we would think of as the legal realm or that of Rothbard's "ethics" ... while disposing of it in the realm of "morals," that is, where adherence to certain rules of conduct should be enforced by verbal reprimand or ostracism.
I content that while physical violence and verbal/psychological aggression are certainly of different categories (as just mentioned), the "non-aggression principle" can be interpreted to apply also to verbal/psychological aggression.
This doesn't prevent you, by physical violence, from saying whatever you want, since verbal aggression is in a different category. But it does threaten you with ostracism or public shaming is you are an asshole.
I'm well aware that "don't be an asshole" has been taken to mean "bake the cake" or "use the pronouns." I'm not saying that you should ... or shouldn't, for that matter.
I'm well aware that psychological aggression is often in the eye of the beholder ... but this is frankly sometimes true in the case of property damage, breach of contract, or fraud as well ... or do we not have lawsuits about these things?
I am not saying that we must tiptoe around every made up rule to protect the emotional state of every person in the world ... sometimes what one does is going to hurt other people, often those quite close to us.
It is the intention with which you do things that happen to hurt others which needs examination. Do you simply not bake the cake? Or do you decide to use slurs?
Do whatever you want ... no one should physically attack you for either. But I think you should expect some moral condemnation and boycott from those who profess to follow the "non-aggression principle" for the second.
I would hope that it would be obvious that the intention to cause pain, physical or not, makes you an asshole ... or have you not heard of psychological torture?