>Absolute free speech has never been accepted in mainstream venues and I would argue the only thing that has changed over time is what type of speech is considered fashionable.
Fighting words have almost always been unacceptable, though the historical response may have been a public duel. These days, people just get angry and let it fester, which is a better world but brings new challenges and opportunities.
You're hitting a good mark, that's for sure. Since you mention the Pope, let's look at the Reformation. Even today, the Pope is head of both church and state, but 500 years ago, the Holy Roman Empire covered a significant portion of Europe. At that time, the Bible was not able to be read by European natives, and the Catholic Mass was held in Latin. Essentially, Catholic churchgoers hardly knew what they were practicing.
During the Reformation, Martin Luther created the first German translation of the Bible, and more translations in different languages soon followed. The impact would have been marginal if not for the fact that the printing press had only recently been developed. The cost of bookmaking plummeted (don't need a scribe for every single copy), which allowed commoners to not only have access to the Bible in their native languages but also possess their own copies. As a result, common people read the Bible, and many eventually agreed with Luther and the other Protestants that the Papacy held no divine legitimacy to its claim as the head of the church.
This perspective created an issue: to challenge the power of the Papacy on church matters also challenged its power on state matters. This disagreement eventually led to the Thirty Years War, one of the most brutal wars in history. Yet, out of that war came the Peace of Westphalia, whose principles laid the foundation for modern international relations and the notion of inviolable borders, principles which were extended to American citizenry especially with the Fourth Amendment and were extended to the individual mind with the First Amendment.
Why did I elaborate on all that? The invention of the printing press was the biggest single advancement in the communication of ideas until the Internet came along. Many people and especially entrenched power structures were afraid of the new ideological paradigms which were developing independently, and the old power structures seem more afraid than ever before. Pray our resolution of these fears is less violent this time around.
Fighting words have almost always been unacceptable, though the historical response may have been a public duel. These days, people just get angry and let it fester, which is a better world but brings new challenges and opportunities.
You're hitting a good mark, that's for sure. Since you mention the Pope, let's look at the Reformation. Even today, the Pope is head of both church and state, but 500 years ago, the Holy Roman Empire covered a significant portion of Europe. At that time, the Bible was not able to be read by European natives, and the Catholic Mass was held in Latin. Essentially, Catholic churchgoers hardly knew what they were practicing.
During the Reformation, Martin Luther created the first German translation of the Bible, and more translations in different languages soon followed. The impact would have been marginal if not for the fact that the printing press had only recently been developed. The cost of bookmaking plummeted (don't need a scribe for every single copy), which allowed commoners to not only have access to the Bible in their native languages but also possess their own copies. As a result, common people read the Bible, and many eventually agreed with Luther and the other Protestants that the Papacy held no divine legitimacy to its claim as the head of the church.
This perspective created an issue: to challenge the power of the Papacy on church matters also challenged its power on state matters. This disagreement eventually led to the Thirty Years War, one of the most brutal wars in history. Yet, out of that war came the Peace of Westphalia, whose principles laid the foundation for modern international relations and the notion of inviolable borders, principles which were extended to American citizenry especially with the Fourth Amendment and were extended to the individual mind with the First Amendment.
Why did I elaborate on all that? The invention of the printing press was the biggest single advancement in the communication of ideas until the Internet came along. Many people and especially entrenched power structures were afraid of the new ideological paradigms which were developing independently, and the old power structures seem more afraid than ever before. Pray our resolution of these fears is less violent this time around.