And compared to those other media, the Net allows a far greater degree of separation between virtual and actual personal attacks. This is why I found Millard's MLA paper so illuminating. This indicates that people are already being led to reflect on the nature of electronic communication, and on the rhetorical possibilities it raises. It has the potential to liberate the legitimate anger and hatred we feel towards political adversaries from the previously constant threat of real violence. On the Net, people can tell each other what they really think of them without having to back up their opinion with physical force.
Rhetoric is power.
Writing can and does change things. Violence is also power, and also changes things. The history of revolutions suggests that an imperative task for revolutionaries is to prize apart rhetoric and violence. A violent revolution is neither possible nor desirable. A rhetorical revolution is both.