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This is the key point. UNPOPULARITY isn't a good reason for an opinion to be silenced. That' a very different stance from saying that HARM isn't a good reason f
by twobyfour 9y ago
This is the key point. UNPOPULARITY isn't a good reason for an opinion to be silenced. That' a very different stance from saying that HARM isn't a good reason for an opinion to be silenced.
- KirinDave 9y agoWell, I submit that by this very statement: the natural social effects we define as "unpopular" cannot then be used to suggest "silencing". As many people have pointed out, it's actually vanishingly rare for people to get punished for unpopular opinions. In general you only get there if you are sincerely promoting genocide (e.g., Spencer), suggesting that not all humans are fit for freedom. (e.g., Moldbug), or that existing cohorts of people who very clearly were offered fair standards of grading are inferior (as Damore did even though he can't seem to come to terms with the real implications of what he wrote). And these are "opinions" many people have and never get any sort of actual punishment or damage to themselves so long as they don't bring it into professional or policy environments where we have agreed it leads to discriminatory practices. It's interesting how the rhetoric about "liberal feels" is so strong online when it's only said "feels" that make most people feel oppressed anyways.