Every linguistic act is violent by definition. It is not necessarily assault, although it can be, and most acts of assault are non-lethal.
Discussion
I actually agree with this, although I don't think many people will understand it, and I don't think that's what they mean when they say it.
Yes. I agree. The problem arises when some cohort of people arbitrarily decides that certain, but not all, speech acts are violent, equate violence to harm, and take it upon themselves to unilaterally censor said speech acts. If we accept that all speech is violence it takes the wind out of their sails so to speak unless they harbour the absurd desire seek to terminate the use of languages itself. More importantly, there’s no act more violent on nostr than not having zaps enabled!
Grr