My current view is that while I want to promote openness and free speech that can really only work in a context where the person exercising their speech feels some necessity to use it responsibly and in an honest way.

On the internet that takes a lot of self control because the social norms of every day life don’t always apply because:

  • no one knows who you are
  • there is not a human being right in front of you that you might feel empathy for
  • there are no consequences to anything you say
  • not all posts are even by humans.

With all these taken together there is a compelling argument that speech may need to be more highly regulated on the internet than in face to face interactions. However there are people with legitimate ( beliefs and ideas honestly held that they wish to discuss ) views that I worry are going to be silenced and further marginalized.

This is bad for society because if people get dismissed or pushed aside it just breeds resentment, distrust, and more misunderstanding. I think as we start defederating and making decisions we are setting up a dangerous situation where it becomes potentially easy to defederate for the wrong reasons.

For instance “we think they are being racist” or “they are spreading misinformation” could have unintended consequences. Some religions and communities might have beliefs that appear to be pseudoscience or even discrimination. However if these are honestly held beliefs that they are willing to engage in civil discourse around I don’t think it’s right to actually block them.

This is likely just the beginning of a much larger discussion so what are your thoughts?—

  • Feweroptions@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Ah yes, the good old “if I insinuate or say something awful about you and it offends you, it’s because you’re guilty.”

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Anyway, if you hang around racists or homophobes or genocide deniers, you don’t contradict them and you fight for their “rightto share their bigoted opinions then what does that make you? 🤔

      I’m not talking about OP, I’m talking about the “not so extremists” that they mentioned in their post. If these people decide to join those getting deplatformed instead of questioning why they got deplatformed then maybe it’s because they’re closeted racists or homophobes or genocide deniers. If OP felt insulted by that then it’s their problem and yes it might be because they feel concerned because they would rather join those getting deplatformed than question why spreading shit in everyone’s plate shouldn’t be tolerated.