A question about the legality of personal space

[Downtown Hound]

226. So the fact that he didn't touch me makes it okay?

As I've now said to several people, next time you're quietly sitting there minding your own business and doing your own thing, let's see how you handle it if a strange man comes and gets right in your face and hovers over you. Somehow I doubt you'll be saying yourself, "Well, he has a right to be there. He's not touching me. He maybe be only inches away from me and doing something he could easily do just a few feet away in a manner that doesn't invade my privacy or my space, but hey, I'll value his right to be right up in my face as long as he's not touching me because I care more about that than I do my own safety or the potential threat this man poses to it.

I know, I know, you'd get up and move. Fine. Go ahead. As for me, I actually think I shouldn' t have to move just because this guy can't do his thing a few feet away from me. Call me crazy or the biggest asshole in the world. But yes, I actually do think I have the right to claim a very small space around me for my personal safety when I'm out in the world as long as its reasonable, and it was in this case. So no, I'm not a pushover who's just going give that up to the first person who comes along and can't respect that.

And at the end of the day, all I did was ask him what he wanted and asked him to go someplace else that wasn't in my space. You all are acting like I beat up on Sling Blade who was just well meaning but didn't understand. That's not what happened here, and if you want me to respect and hear what you are trying to say, then you need to respect and hear what I'm saying instead of making me out to be some horrible bully hyped up on machismo. If you can't do that, then I'm afraid I don't give a shit about what you have to say because you're not really capable of forming a reasonable opinion. No one seems to want to hear the fact that I felt threatened. No one seems to want to hear the fact that it was not me who started this. No one seems to want to hear about how I should not have to just get up and leave because somebody else can't respect my space.
Sorry. But until I hear some acknowledgement on that front I'm really not interested in what anybody has to say on the matter unless it relates to legal issues, which is what I was going for in the first place.
Do you understand that now? Good.