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This is a hyperbolic analogy and not useful. Sale of electricity and of general purpose computers are wildly less direct than providing a purpose-built platform
by happytoexplain 8y ago
This is a hyperbolic analogy and not useful. Sale of electricity and of general purpose computers are wildly less direct than providing a purpose-built platform for speech dissemination. Now, I don't think that banishment from those platforms for anything they define as "hate-speech" is guaranteed to be right for all definitions of "right", and it deserves real scrutiny, but your argument doesn't illuminate anything.
- shawn 8y agoIt was refreshingly insightful. It clearly illustrates the problem with “no platforming,” a concept that is inherently censorship.
- happytoexplain 8y agoIt's a common and obvious rhetorical tactic to manufacture an analogy that scales up the points you want to make and/or scales down the points you don't agree with. It's the same spirit as a strawman. I'm genuinely sad to see that called "refreshingly insightful" on HN.
- shawn 8y agoMm, a fair critique. This is one of the classic arguments where people feel strongly in one direction or another, and it takes very little effort to essentially set up a yay/nay vote. We can find common ground, but I wish it were possible without restricting what people can say.
- reader5000 8y agoI would disagree. I think selling a person a computer/electricity which they use to make a podcast is as "wildly direct" as selling server hosting (social media platform) for the podcast.
- belltaco 8y agoWhat about grocery stores that sell food to the same person allowing them to exist and make those said podscasts? Are they as "wildly direct" as well?