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Old 03-14-2017, 02:27 PM
 
Location: Keller, TX
5,658 posts, read 6,278,689 times
Reputation: 4111

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This is a fantastic treatise on true free speech.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjBM7Fy3tNQ

Quote:
Call me a free speech extremist or radical if you want, but I do still hold to the position that all human beings should have the right to think whatever they like, write whatever they like, and express whatever opinions they like.
..
Those who argue for freedom of expression don't care whether someone is a "racist" "sexist" "white supremacist" or other "bad things." We are willing to accept that people with bad ideas should be able to express whatever bad ideas they want. Free speech advocates are fully aware that freedom of speech comes with the consequence that people will attempt to spread false information, discredited ideas, waves upon waves of propaganda, and other such things. You cannot appeal to the consequences in order to win this argument.

Those of us who value freedom of expression have accepted that consequence. The people who we disagree with at the most basic and visceral levels should still be allowed to freely express themselves and they should still be allowed to accept invitations to speak on various platforms without mob justice being brought down upon them.

You don't have to give your political enemies platforms in order to be an ethical proponent of political expression but what you may NOT do is violently prevent someone from attempting to build a platform of their own or stop them from using a platform that someone else has built and invited them to use.
..
And here comes the sleight of hand that's always present in these types of discussions. "Of course we support freedom of expression! We support it so much -- we don't want 'the government' stepping in and telling people what they can and can't say publicly... we don't want 'the government' coming in and shutting down various platforms because they don't approve of the content being hoisted onto that platform... and guess what -- 'Checkmate' -- we AREN'T the government, and so that makes this a COMPLETELY different situation when a mob of people I like gets together and shuts down a speaker I don't like -- nah nah na nah nah I'm not the government -- so cut it out with your 'muh free speech' bull s**t."
The whole thing is excellent.
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