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Most of these comments fail to appreciate the highly extreme nature of Alex Jones' rhetoric. Its obscene, flagrant garbage. There are dozens of lines he crossed

Most of these comments fail to appreciate the highly extreme nature of Alex Jones' rhetoric. Its obscene, flagrant garbage. There are dozens of lines he crossed thousands of times. He isn't banned from speech, but there isn't a place for that kind of conduct on platforms with any kind of standards.

maratd 8y ago
> Its obscene, flagrant garbage. It is. So what? > there isn't a place for that kind of conduct on platforms with any kind of standards. Flag it as "obscene, flagrant garbage" and hide it. Allow the user to decide. If they want to switch their account to "allow all", that's their choice. Google does this with search. They can easily do this on YouTube. They choose not to, which is unfortunate.
- reilly3000 8y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exce... The tradition of American law certainly flies a different way than the approach you suggest. I sincerely respect your position, but feel that wisdom and tradition have found value in taking a more nuanced approach.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - maratd 8y ago
    That’s a list of speech that can be justifiably repressed by the government. It doesn’t apply here. We’re talking about private parties and about speech that doesn’t meet those thresholds, but is nevertheless reprehensible.
    - reilly3000 8y ago
      I assert that this threshold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions#Fighting_words_and_offensive_speech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exce... was broken by this incident: "The Pizzagate incident, like Jade Helm before it, illustrates Jones’s ability to influence his followers to take action in the real world, no matter how far-fetched or unrealistic his claims might be. The Pizzagate “story” emerged in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign, and thanks in part to active promotion by Michael G. Flynn, the son of former National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn (who also appeared to endorse the story on social media), was still going strong a full month after Election Day, when Edgar Welch appeared at Comet Ping Pong with an assault rifle, ready to “rescue” the children he was convinced were being held in the basement. Welch fired several shots and spent close to an hour inside the restaurant before apparently determining that there were not, in fact, any signs of any criminal activity anywhere in the building. He surrendered to police, and later pleaded guilty to assault and weapons charges. Welch was sentenced in June 2017 to four years in prison." Source: https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/alex-jones-five-things-to-know https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/alex-jones-five-... It is rather audacious to me that you seem to assert that speech in social platforms that are owned and operated in the US with US citizens talking to each other is somehow separate from the rule of law of the US government. The internet was essentially created by the US government. The notion that internet companies somehow supersede individual governments is- dangerous. The decision of social platforms to enforce their policies in this matter is in part in response to the will of their stakeholders, but also to insulate themselves from anything remotely close to being a party to defamation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_defamation_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_defamation_law > It doesn’t apply here. <- doesn't hold up for me. One could argue that ironically, in exercising editorial discretion on content, social platforms demonstrate their ability to censure content, and thus open themselves up to liability for all of the content they chose not to take editorial action against. If you've gotten this far in this thread, please spend some time with Alex Jones' greatest hits and give me your honest opinion of its merit. Snarky disclaimer: I give money to the ACLU, I believe in free speech deeply, and though every fiber in my being is opposed to their cause I will fight for the right for Westboro Baptist Church to be able to assemble peacefully in public space. But even Alex Jones' site acknowledges the need for limits: https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/08/07/censorship-platforms-delete-infowars-content-not-according-infowars/ https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/08/07/censorship-platforms-...

maratd 8y ago

> Its obscene, flagrant garbage. It is. So what? > there isn't a place for that kind of conduct on platforms with any kind of standards. Flag it as "obscene, flagrant garbage" and hide it. Allow the user to decide. If they want to switch their account to "allow all", that's their choice. Google does this with search. They can easily do this on YouTube. They choose not to, which is unfortunate.

reilly3000 8y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exce... The tradition of American law certainly flies a different way than the approach you suggest. I sincerely respect your position, but feel that wisdom and tradition have found value in taking a more nuanced approach.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- maratd 8y ago
  That’s a list of speech that can be justifiably repressed by the government. It doesn’t apply here. We’re talking about private parties and about speech that doesn’t meet those thresholds, but is nevertheless reprehensible.
  - reilly3000 8y ago
    I assert that this threshold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions#Fighting_words_and_offensive_speech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exce... was broken by this incident: "The Pizzagate incident, like Jade Helm before it, illustrates Jones’s ability to influence his followers to take action in the real world, no matter how far-fetched or unrealistic his claims might be. The Pizzagate “story” emerged in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign, and thanks in part to active promotion by Michael G. Flynn, the son of former National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn (who also appeared to endorse the story on social media), was still going strong a full month after Election Day, when Edgar Welch appeared at Comet Ping Pong with an assault rifle, ready to “rescue” the children he was convinced were being held in the basement. Welch fired several shots and spent close to an hour inside the restaurant before apparently determining that there were not, in fact, any signs of any criminal activity anywhere in the building. He surrendered to police, and later pleaded guilty to assault and weapons charges. Welch was sentenced in June 2017 to four years in prison." Source: https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/alex-jones-five-things-to-know https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/alex-jones-five-... It is rather audacious to me that you seem to assert that speech in social platforms that are owned and operated in the US with US citizens talking to each other is somehow separate from the rule of law of the US government. The internet was essentially created by the US government. The notion that internet companies somehow supersede individual governments is- dangerous. The decision of social platforms to enforce their policies in this matter is in part in response to the will of their stakeholders, but also to insulate themselves from anything remotely close to being a party to defamation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_defamation_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_defamation_law > It doesn’t apply here. <- doesn't hold up for me. One could argue that ironically, in exercising editorial discretion on content, social platforms demonstrate their ability to censure content, and thus open themselves up to liability for all of the content they chose not to take editorial action against. If you've gotten this far in this thread, please spend some time with Alex Jones' greatest hits and give me your honest opinion of its merit. Snarky disclaimer: I give money to the ACLU, I believe in free speech deeply, and though every fiber in my being is opposed to their cause I will fight for the right for Westboro Baptist Church to be able to assemble peacefully in public space. But even Alex Jones' site acknowledges the need for limits: https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/08/07/censorship-platforms-delete-infowars-content-not-according-infowars/ https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/08/07/censorship-platforms-...