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Are we going to pretend that the white nationalist alt-right has been a good citizen on platforms like Twitter and Reddit? Hacker News itself is heavily modera

Are we going to pretend that the white nationalist alt-right has been a good citizen on platforms like Twitter and Reddit? Hacker News itself is heavily moderated: spaces for expression are a commons, and people who abuse those spaces make them less useful for others, until they have infected the entire space making it only amenable to their sort of expression. There's no such abstract ideal of free speech that transcends its legal definition. Speech is not neutral. If speech were neutral, it would not be so important. Since speech has effects, like harassing speech forcing people off platforms for expression, everyone has a shared interest in the expressive platforms they use. If an ideal of free speech precluded the moderation of conflicts arising from speech, what does it actually mean? That the most aggressive, vicious speakers get to monopolize the spaces they force others out of? Re: Tolerance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance

potatosoup 10y ago
Have to be careful with definitions. There are some fringe groups of white supremacists and their ilk which pretty much everyone (including Trump) wants to crawl back to their cave. There is also a diverse group of people of all backgrounds who want political change and are tired of both dems and reps. The latter group is magnitudes larger, and yet the former group seems to get all the attention. Why?
- gaur 10y ago
  > Have to be careful with definitions. OK, so let's spell it out explicitly. The term "alt-right" was created by Richard Spencer, who is often described as a white supremacist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Spencer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Spencer > Spencer advocates for a white homeland for a "dispossessed white race" and calls for "peaceful ethnic cleansing" to halt the "deconstruction" of European culture.[16][22][23]
  - potatosoup 10y ago
    Think we can all agree that the people you are describing are trash. My point is that they are a fortunately very small non-statistically significant group and their beliefs do not represent the beliefs of most Americans (yes, including Trump voters.)
    - gaur 10y ago
      The post you replied to was talking about white supremacists, with no mention of Trump voters. You are the one who brought up Trump voters at the first mention of alt-right white nationalists, which is ironic since you insist that the former has nothing to do with the latter.
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
Clanan 10y ago
Nice strawman. As usual, opponents of the enlightened are nothing more than rabid, racist idiots.
- danharaj 10y ago
  1. My beliefs are considered very heterodox here on HN. That's ok. 2. Likewise, I disagree, even vehemently with a lot of more mainstream opinions here. 3. Neither me nor those I disagree with in good faith are idiots. 4. If one hangs out with white supremacists and spouts their ideology """ironically""" or whatever, I think one is an idiot. Yea, that's true.

potatosoup 10y ago

Have to be careful with definitions. There are some fringe groups of white supremacists and their ilk which pretty much everyone (including Trump) wants to crawl back to their cave. There is also a diverse group of people of all backgrounds who want political change and are tired of both dems and reps. The latter group is magnitudes larger, and yet the former group seems to get all the attention. Why?

gaur 10y ago
> Have to be careful with definitions. OK, so let's spell it out explicitly. The term "alt-right" was created by Richard Spencer, who is often described as a white supremacist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Spencer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Spencer > Spencer advocates for a white homeland for a "dispossessed white race" and calls for "peaceful ethnic cleansing" to halt the "deconstruction" of European culture.[16][22][23]
- potatosoup 10y ago
  Think we can all agree that the people you are describing are trash. My point is that they are a fortunately very small non-statistically significant group and their beliefs do not represent the beliefs of most Americans (yes, including Trump voters.)
  - gaur 10y ago
    The post you replied to was talking about white supremacists, with no mention of Trump voters. You are the one who brought up Trump voters at the first mention of alt-right white nationalists, which is ironic since you insist that the former has nothing to do with the latter.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]

Clanan 10y ago

Nice strawman. As usual, opponents of the enlightened are nothing more than rabid, racist idiots.

danharaj 10y ago
1. My beliefs are considered very heterodox here on HN. That's ok. 2. Likewise, I disagree, even vehemently with a lot of more mainstream opinions here. 3. Neither me nor those I disagree with in good faith are idiots. 4. If one hangs out with white supremacists and spouts their ideology """ironically""" or whatever, I think one is an idiot. Yea, that's true.