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Yes but enough about ElonEveryone hates the idea of free speech when their opponents are speaking and then suddenly loves it again when they find their own opinions being stifled.
Yes but enough about ElonEveryone hates the idea of free speech when their opponents are speaking and then suddenly loves it again when they find their own opinions being stifled.
Walking on eggshells makes you dishonest and duplicitous, make you hide yourself from others and usually pretend that you too are virtuous because that's what the stifling authoritarian environment requires of you. Humans aren't perfect, they say stupid shit they don't mean when they get mad, they make mistakes, they have a weird sense of humor and so on, forcing them to hide themselves in fear of repercussions from a cult that denies reality doesn't solve anything, is not organic and at the end of the day makes people more contrarian and hateful, which it did
This whole "saying anything you want and face no consequences" is not organic,
the fundamnetal lack of accountability makes people hold more and more extremist and bullshit views,
Yes but enough about Elon
The comic acts like "freedom of speech isn't freedom from consequences" is some kind of revelation rather than an extremely commonly-accepted idea. Everyone knows this already, and the comic is arguing against a strawman. As if a bunch of people are shouting, "Hey, I called my boss a butthole and he fired me! What about my freedom of speech!?"Free speech does not mean no one can tell you to leave or have you removed from the premises for what you say. It never has. If I go into a place of business I dont own, say a bunch of heinous, hateful crap and the owner wants me gone, guess what? They can call the cops and I will be removed.
The comic acts like "freedom of speech isn't freedom from consequences" is some kind of revelation rather than an extremely commonly-accepted idea. Everyone knows this already, and the comic is arguing against a strawman. As if a bunch of people are shouting, "Hey, I called my boss a butthole and he fired me! What about my freedom of speech!?"
It's not unusual for people to get in trouble for unpopular ideas. But the comic conflates unpopular with hateful (or as he puts it, "your bullshit"). The issue is in whether or not it's fair to lose your job for having the wrong political opinion. And no, I don't mean crazy fringe beliefs like bringing back slavery. I'm talking about being a Trump supporter, being opposed how we handle trans issues, being pro-life, wanting tighter immigration policies, and any other traditionally right-wing viewpoints people might have that are super unpopular online (but common in the real world). That's what I mean about the comic lacking nuance; it rolls any position it disagrees with under "bullshit," thereby flattening the topic and taking any semblance of a rational discussion out of the picture.
Elon might often act like a spoiled child towards his enemies but he never (extremely rarely? don't know) goes as far to invent reasons to censor them like the cult did for years. They actually censored an active president, please don't compare the two, it's just sad
Didn't he say anyone who said the term "cis" would get banned?
Being banned from Twitter isn't censorship. You dont have freedom of expression of Twitter. You just exchanged a consistent terms of service to "however Elon feels about something today" and as can be seen with his flip flopping on Alex Jones, his whims are far from consistent.
Its regulation, not censorship. And his regulations are performance at best.
Apple could X from the App Store due to Alex Jones being unbanned:
Apple Is Holding the Final Nail for X’s Coffin
Precedent would suggest the platform formerly known as Twitter is at risk of a ban from the App Store — but it’s a fight Tim Cook really won’t want.www.bloomberg.com
The InfoWars app is still banned from the App Store.
Unless it makes him look bad, then he just rigs it so it can't be done to him anymore (articles, community Notes, etc)Elon might often act like a spoiled child towards his enemies but he never (extremely rarely? don't know) goes as far to invent reasons to censor them like the cult did for years.
I don’t think they’ll drop X over this, but what X earns them is a tiny drop in the bucket for Apple.They take 30% of anything TwitteX earns via the app store.
I won't hold my breath on this one.
A federal judge ruled to allow a class-action lawsuit over the acquisition of Twitter to proceed against Elon Musk Monday, reasoning that Musk’s false tweets, his own recklessness, and a comment featuring a poop emoji may well have constituted securities fraud
A group of investor plaintiffs sued Musk for securities fraud alleging that Musk lied about the number of spam accounts on Twitter as part of a plan to drive down the company’s stock price and manipulate the terms of his acquisition. Musk bought the social media platform, which he has since renamed X, for $54.20 per share — but only after Twitter sued Musk to force the deal through.
In the days before Musk’s $44 billion purchase of the social media platform in October 2022, he posted a series of tweets that plaintiffs say were a deliberate manipulation of the company’s stock. The tweets were a series of statements indicating that Twitter had more fake or “bot” accounts — and therefore less actual users — than had been previously estimated.
He didn’t create that feature it was already out and just called something else lolCongrats to Musk for massively overpaying for something and then tanking a ton of the value. Truly a genius businessman.
It will always be Twitter and X is dumb as fuck. I will give props for the community notes feature though, which I am a huge fan of and I think is very important for all social media sites. And I love nothing more than seeing Musk himself or some politician hit with a correction note.
Oh, I never noticed it until more recently, but that makes much more sense. Hopefully he doesn't remove it if he gets corrected a few more times.He didn’t create that feature it was already out and just called something else lol
They sure picked a much better name than whatever it was before that’s for sure, it was called something dorky like Bird Watch lolOh, I never noticed it until more recently, but that makes much more sense. Hopefully he doesn't remove it if he gets corrected a few more times.
Unless it makes him look bad, then he just rigs it so it can't be done to him anymore (articles, community Notes, etc)
Being banned from Twitter isn't censorship.
And then he dunks on the feature...and Musk deserves to have his statements questioned as much as anyone on the platform.
And then he dunks on the feature...
As I mentioned in another thread recently: Is content being changed or removed for reasons related to subjective moral, political, or religious values? If yes, that's censorship.
That is a VERY liberal use of the term.
You might as well say all terms of service, house rules for a place of business, etc are censoring you.
It's a very accurate use of the term. That isn't to say all censorship is always bad or always wrong, but it's still censorship.
No, many houses rules and terms of service is in fact selective.Also, censorship is a far greater issue when it's selectively applied, which isn't the case for most terms of service or house rules. To use a recent example, if Harvard really did defend freedom of speech, they'd be able to defend their recent inaction from a place of truth and precedent. Instead, everyone can see how hypocritical they are, allowing the sort of speech that shouldn't be accepted at any school.
Like I said, censorship isn't always bad, especially if it doesn't include government involvement. I've been saying that since before Musk bought Twitter. I never wanted to see slurs allowed on Twitter, for example.
Is content being changed or removed for reasons related to subjective moral, political, or religious values? If yes, that's censorship.
I think you're going to great lengths to make censorship synonymous to correction, and I think those two terms carry very different connotations depending on the context.
I dont think someone clarifying, or correcting their own statements should be boxed under the same category as suppression or prohibition of speech by another party, for example. There are factors of agency that divide the two.
No, many houses rules and terms of service is in fact selective.
By nature in fact it must be. No terms of service restricts all forms of speech. No place of business restricts ALL forms of expression, obviously not. There are specifics, often based on widely accepted parameters of understanding, social context and a whole lot of other subjective stuff.
The ALLOWANCE of certain forms of speech is often an entirely different conversation. And again, context often matters to that effect. Phrases and sayings, symbols and images that are otherwise innocuous can very quickly become something more sinister given the right contextual precedent. Theres no shortage of examples of this.
But what is a slur and wasn't isnt a slur isnt a universally agreed upon thing, is it? In fact, some words, become harmful slurs ONLY in specific contexts, and sometimes depending on who is saying them, and to whom they are saying it to. Words work this way, their acceptance, their meaning, their usage, is contextual, and so making blanket regulations that ignore this is a faulty system in the first place.
I agree that not all forms of censorship is bad, but calling it censorship denotes "control by others" rather than "control of oneself". If I write an encyclopedia, but 20 years later many of the understandings changed, or even the terms used to refer to those understanding have changed, and I publish a new edition that updates the terminology so that current and future students can understand exactly what is being said, I dont think that necessarily should be boxed in under the same terms as, say, a government agency proofreading my book under compulsion, rewording it, then allowing it to be released.
That's not what I mean by selective. If you don't allow your students to scream "fuck" in the middle of a school lecture, that's censorship, but it's understandable and not selective. Just about everyone would agree about that, and it isn't designed to prevent any specific thought, opinion, worldview, etc.
If you punish students for saying that there are only two genders but allow students to protest against the existence of the state of Israel and vocally support the killing of Israel's citizens, that is selective. You can't be taken seriously to claim that you care about free speech after that. That is selective censorship.
What is that last sentence supposed to mean? The governments ability to "ban words" is not a factor of time, its a factor of constitutional authority, and they don't have it. That's always been the case, so I'm not sure what you are referring to here.No, slurs are not universally agreed upon and context is a thing, which is why prohibiting their use makes more sense for social media platforms and such rather than giving the government the power to ban words. Given enough time, the government will always use the power they have to benefit themselves.
But slurs also don't prevent the expression of thoughts, feelings, opinions, beliefs, etc. They tend to detract from a conversation rather than add to it.
It's a matter of intent and agency. George Lucas censored Star Wars with the whole "Han shot first" thing. Several book publishers have been changing the content of their books for subjective moral reasons long after the author has died. Both are censorship, but the latter is worse than the former. You keep talking about self-censorship, which is a considerably less offensive and less concerning form of censorship. In the context of twitter, I keep talking about the government putting pressure on social media companies to remove legally protected speech from their platform. Like most things in life, there's a scale when it comes to how awful and unjust a given act of censorship can be, and that's a pretty bad one.
But again, it has to come back to content changed or removed because of morality. That's the biggest factor in all of this. It's also why, as opposed to modern times, in the past so much censorship has come from the church and organized religion.
Well to be frank with you I've not kept up with any of the goings on at Harvard regarding the israel/Palestine conflict in great detail.
I did some research and their student hand book makes very plain that they at least claim to tolerate free expression saying quote: "our commitment to freedom of expression by its nature entails tolerating some speech that members of the community may receive as offensive or harmful. Although this expression may feel deeply injurious to some who hear it, it is nevertheless protected and permissible speech, unless it takes on a character that violates University or School policies on harassment, discrimination, or bullying."
I searched for any example of a student being punished for claiming that there are only two genders and havent found nothing, so if you've got something that would clewrlt be hypocrisy on their part. If you dont, then it seems they are sticking to their general policy of allowing even controversial ideas. Keep on mind that's a different discussion to their preferences in what they choose to include in curriculum, or teach the students.
First of all, Harvard, which on paper commits to protecting free speech, has a dismal record of responding to deplatforming attempts — attempts to sanction students, student groups, scholars, and speakers for speech protected under First Amendment standards. Of nine attempts in total over the past five years, seven resulted in sanction.
For each of these seven incidents, Harvard was penalized in the rankings:
From 2019 to this year, Harvard sanctioned four scholars, three of whom it terminated.
In 2020, Harvard revoked conservative student activist Kyle Kashuv’s acceptance over comments he made on social media as a 16-year-old, for which he had since apologized.
In 2022, Harvard disinvited feminist philosopher Devin Buckley from an English department colloquium on campus over her views on gender and trans issues.
In 2019, Harvard was the site of a substantial event disruption when protesters interrupted a joint talk featuring former Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow and Graduate School of Education Dean Bridget Terry Long by occupying the stage and refusing to leave.
Harvard also performed very poorly on a number of the survey-based components of the College Free Speech Rankings, ranking 193 out of 254 on “Comfort Expressing Ideas,” 183 on “Administrative Support,” and 198 on “Disruptive Conduct.” This is reflected in student survey responses. For instance, just over a quarter of Harvard students reported they are comfortable publicly disagreeing with their professor on a controversial political topic; only roughly a third think it is “very” or “extremely” clear the administration protects free speech on campus; and an alarming 30% think using violence to stop a campus speech is at least “rarely” acceptable, an increase from the 26% of Harvard students who felt this way last year.
And then he dunks on the feature...
There are limits on Free Speech
Not unless you believe in "absolute free speech" which is kind of nuts when you take a few to think about what it entails.Bit of an oxy that
Another win for "absolute" freedom of speech. /s
the unregulated platforming of ideas antithetical to the good of, not just our country but many others, also a matter of public safety? I say yes.
However I would like you to clarify what exactly you mean when you say that the government "pressures" social media platforms to regulate themselves. Because that's getting into what rights the government has over how it interacts with corporations, and thats almost an entirely different topic.
I may return to the thread later to address some of your other points, but I wanted to cover this. My example of punishing students for saying there are only two genders was a hypothetical. I was wrong for not communicating that. I don't think anyone at Harvard would be stupid enough to say that, given the climate of the campus and that their literal grades are at stake. But I did include a real life example below.
As for a list of censorship that actually happened at Harvard:
Harvard gets worst score ever in FIRE’s College Free Speech Rankings
Harvard has never performed well in FIRE’s College Free Speech Rankings, finishing below 75% of the schools surveyed in each of the past four years.www.thefire.org
And there's even more at the link.
So to adjust what I said to fit what has actually happened, "If you take action when it comes to an invited guest for having the 'wrong' opinions on gender and trans issues, but you refuse to take action when it comes to a situation where your students are calling for the genocide of Jews, don't expect people to take you seriously when you claim to believe in free speech.
Who in the government should decide what ideas should be removed from all social media? What if you disagree? What if you agree now, but someone you completely disagree with is elected later who then uses the government to remove ideas and people that you do agree with? This is authoritarianism.
[edit]
I'll also include this, because it's one of the best exchanges I've ever seen on the topic:
As I've said multiple times, the government told Twitter if they didn't do a better job at keeping "hate" and "misinformation" off the platform, that they would be regulated. This was said several times using vaguely worded threats, and other times with a much more specific threat of removing section 230 protections, which would destroy almost any social media company.
For all the people saying Musk made it so no one could label his posts with community notes, either he quickly reversed that decision, or that was a lie that people believed and never was true.
The note in question: "This feature has been available in Microsoft Word since at least 2020 and has to be turned on manually."
It's good to have context, and Musk deserves to have his statements questioned as much as anyone on the platform. I'm glad to see this can still happen.
As I mentioned in another thread recently: Is content being changed or removed for reasons related to subjective moral, political, or religious values? If yes, that's censorship.
It adds important context, which is a good thing. MS word criticizing you for not using "inclusive" language is quite a different thing than people opting in and and saying "MS word, please criticize me if I don't use inclusive language!" To not include that context is to misrepresent the situation. For an example of leaving out context from someone who dislikes Musk, please see my criticism of the article about Musk in post 387.Cant wait to get banned from Xbox and lose my digital games because my Word documents weren't 'Inclusive' enough. As for the community note, Musk never implied it was enabled by default so why that was mentioned in the note makes no sense.
Sorry for the formatting, or your welcome. Either way. There were a lot of questions and statements I wanted to respond to.I dont think the president himself is making these decisions at all for one, nor should he be.
Im also not making this claim on a basis of "agreement", I'm making this claim on a basis of what is good for the people.
Attempts to push antisemitics narratives, white supremacists propaganda, and hate speech and other bigotry is generally something that already sees regulation
At some point, it becomes not about agreement, but about it complacency and irresponsibility toward the common people.
Im going to have to check on this later but full disclosure, I'm not generally a fan of Peterson. So I may take away different things than you.
Do you feel any social media platoform is inherently entitled to section 230? I do not think any site is.
Are you viewing the "Following" or "For You" tab? I don't bother with For You.Anyone else's feed also full of anti-immigration posts? I'm being bombarded with anti-immigration content by users I've never heard before.
Elon Musk is boosting certain content again
Also, censorship is a far greater issue when it's selectively applied, which isn't the case for most terms of service or house rules. To use a recent example, if Harvard really did defend freedom of speech, they'd be able to defend their recent inaction from a place of truth and precedent. Instead, everyone can see how hypocritical they are, allowing the sort of speech that shouldn't be accepted at any school.
I mean it's lost about 70% of its market valuation and seems to have no viable path to profitability.Remember the people who said Twitter would go bankrupt because the users would leave, the advertisers would flee, and Mastodon would take over?
This seems to be the lived reality of the situation. Twitter continues to spiral into its death throes largely based on the poor decision making of one man.Remember how people were sure Twitter wouldn't last one year because Elon was changing too many things that the brilliant Jack Dorsey had established and that Elon didn't understand how to run a tech company?