Speech is violence?

Conservative commentator extraordinaire Ben Shapiro has been signaling for some time now on how the left characterizes speech they don't like. 

Speech is violence.
Misgendering is violence.
Burning stores to the ground is not violence.
They're really going to run with this one, huh?

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 3, 2020

It's pretty clear what the motivation is. If conservative speech is "violence" and thus leftists believe they're being "violently" attacked by rhetoric, then they feel justified responding with physical violence. 

Exhibit A: 

 

Comedian Dave Chappelle was attacked on stage by an audience member armed with a fake gun that had a real knife inside Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl, authorities said.

The comic, 48, was performing as part of the Netflix Is a Joke festival when the mayhem unfolded around 10:45 p.m. toward the end of the stand-up show, according to witnesses.

Shocking video footage shows Chappelle standing on stage as an audience member, identified by authorities as Isaiah Lee, 23, charges and slams him to the floor. Seconds later, the attacker was tackled by security.

Lee, who lives in Los Angeles, was arrested for felony assault with a deadly weapon, the Los Angeles Police Department said Wednesday.

Chappelle has been under some serious heat from the trans community and their allies over jokes targeting transgenderism. So if I were a bettin' man, my guess is Mr. Lee was responding to what he perceived as the "violence" in Chappelle's comedy. Combine that with the fact that comedian Chris Rock was physically assaulted by actor Will Smith over a joke about Smith's wife's bald head, many entertainers are wondering aloud if they can feel safe in performing their art. It's now a legit fear that an agitated audience member may seek retribution by charging entertainers on stage. 

Regardless, this isn't going to stop Chappelle from doing his thing. In fact, after the dust settled and the attacker was ushered off the stage (but not before getting his ass kicked), Chappelle quipped "It was a trans man." Given that we live in very stupid times, that little barb sparked more outrage in certain circles than a the comedian himself being attacked with a deadly weapon. 

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