Comment by fauigerzigerk
10 hours ago
You are assuming that hinkley intended to control their emotions and that cursing wasn't just a rhetorical thing in this instance.
There clearly is a link between words and emotions. But this link - and even more so the link between emotions and actions - is very complex.
Too many fears are based on the assumption of a rather more reductionist and mechanistic sort of link where no one has any control over anything. That's not realistic and our legal system contradicts this assumption.
I agree, it's rhetorical. It was meant to be pointed. It's just too ironic in this scenario.
It loses meaning instead of accentuating it, and predictably so. It probably wasn't the best device to get this specific point across and certainly left the expected counter argument as low hanging fruit.