I hope this Lefty perspective is not being posted here unironically...
Rights to free speech are about maintaining an open marketplace of ideas. The sentiment in the above comic is contrary to that. It should be obvious to any thinking person that a free and open marketplace of ideas is incompatible with the notion that you might be punished for speaking your mind.
It is not unreasonable here to keep conversation on topic, and neither is it unreasonable to protect against outside attacks meant to undermine the purpose of this forum. But that whole, "Your free speech is intact if we punish you for it, because we're not the government. We just think you're an ass hole," is a Lefty talking point. Anyone who takes it is nowhere near being fully awake.
It occurs to me that it might be nice for this forum, wanting to present a good face to the public, if there was a default filter in place that offered a public-facing, default, lightly censored presentation. Then, once people join, allow an option in settings to see ALL material. Of course, still ban ads, obvious trolls, etc., but otherwise let the individual users decide how much they want to see. With that, give individual users the ability to block and filter content further to suit their own wants/needs.
I would prefer a compromise like I suggested, because I don't trust ANYONE FOR ANY REASON doing my content filtering for me. Trusting others to filter our content for us is largely how we got to where we are. Furthermore, if someone has incorrect ideas, but we don't know because they are so effectively censored, how do we convince them to change their views? We cannot. We just make them bitter and fracture communities. Likewise, how can you bring truth to an ignorant community if that community falsely believes your perspective to be so wrong that they ban it/you outright without even an opportunity to be heard/considered?
Frankly, the pro-censorship slant I've see around here recently has been one of the most discouraging things I have witnessed recently and does not bode well for the US or the world. I am hopeful that it has been inspired by genuinely good intentions just poorly executed.
As Thomas Paine said, "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." Feelings should not anywhere provide a barrier against honest discussion.
I hope this Lefty perspective is not being posted here unironically...
Rights to free speech are about maintaining an open marketplace of ideas. The sentiment in the above comic is contrary to that. It should be obvious to any thinking person that a free and open marketplace of ideas is incompatible with the notion that you might be punished for speaking your mind.
It is not unreasonable here to keep conversation on topic, and neither is it unreasonable to protect against outside attacks meant to undermine the purpose of this forum. But that whole, "Your free speech is intact if we punish you for it, because we're not the government. We just think you're an ass hole," is a Lefty talking point. Anyone who takes it is nowhere near being fully awake.
It occurs to me that it might be nice for this forum, wanting to present a good face to the public, if there was a default filter in place that offered a public-facing, default, lightly censored presentation. Then, once people join, allow an option in settings to see ALL material. Of course, still ban ads, obvious trolls, etc., but otherwise let the individual users decide how much they want to see. With that, give individual users the ability to block and filter content further to suit their own wants/needs.
I would prefer a compromise like I suggested, because I don't trust ANYONE FOR ANY REASON doing my content filtering for me. Trusting others to filter our content for us is largely how we got to where we are. Furthermore, if someone has incorrect ideas, but we don't know because they are so effectively censored, how do we convince them to change their views? We cannot. We just make them bitter and fracture communities. Likewise, how can you bring truth to an ignorant community if that community falsely believes your perspective to be so wrong that they ban it/you outright without even an opportunity to be heard/considered?
Frankly, the pro-censorship slant I've see around here recently has been one of the most discouraging things I have witnessed recently and does not bode well for the US or the world. I am hopeful that it has been inspired by genuinely good intentions just poorly executed.
As Thomas Paine said, "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." Feelings should not anywhere provide a barrier against honest discussion.