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Please understand that for many of us in the EU, freedom of speech as understood and implemented by Americans is not something desirable. Based solely on my pe

by bahamut1928 8y ago

Please understand that for many of us in the EU, freedom of speech as understood and implemented by Americans is not something desirable. Based solely on my personal experience, most of the people are actually happy on how censorship is handled by our institutions. I've never felt restricted in expressing my opinion in whichever topic we are discussing, and I am actually happy that people preaching racist ideologies (that have cost us a lot in the past) find some obstacles in their way. I personally don't consider your freedom of speech as inherently superior or the obvious step into progress. As many things in life, it has its pros and cons. Would you deem as "progress" all those echo chambers on the internet where people find support for ideologies that have cost millions of lives in the past?

anoifeh 8y ago
>I've never felt restricted in expressing my opinion in whichever topic we are discussing Of course, if you belong to a mainstream ideology...
- bahamut1928 8y ago
  In some cases I do, in others I don't. I've never encounter censorship in either of those. Besides, I had some pretty interesting discussions with people expressing ideas which did not agree with my thoughts. If, as you said, I would be on the "mainstream" side, they would have been censored. That did not happen.
qubax 8y ago
> people preaching racist ideologies (that have cost us a lot in the past) find some obstacles in their way. Racist ideologies isn't what cost europe deeply. It's europe's love of censorship. Hitler was able to do what he did because of germans love of censorship. Hitler never got majority vote on anything. But he was able to shutdown every opposition party in germany because of the german people's love of censorship. You could say censorship works well when people you like are in power. But what happens when people you don't like are in power? They can censor too. The difference between the US and Europe is that US loves freedom and europe doesn't. Probably has to do with millenia of living under kings. I don't know. And the reason why we have never experienced fascism or totalitarianism in the US is because we have fundamental free speech and free press rights. Europe doesn't. Unfortunately, instead of our good ideas rubbing off on europe, it seems like your bad habits are rubbing off on the US and we as a nation have to put a stop to it. > I personally don't consider your freedom of speech as inherently superior or the obvious step into progress. Isn't the fact that we didn't have a nazi germany, soviet union or a fascist italy proof enough? As long as everyone has the right to voice their opinions, there is no way nazis or communists or fascists can take over europe. Now if one side is able to silence everyone else, that's how you get nazi germany, soviet union and fascist italy. The antidote to hate isn't censorship, it's free speech. And free speech exists to protect you when bad people get into power.
- bahamut1928 8y ago
  > The difference between the US and Europe is that US loves freedom and europe doesn't This is absurd. Every country, including the US, has some restrictions. The fact that we put the boundaries in a different place doesn't mean that we don't love our freedom. >Isn't the fact that we didn't have a nazi germany, soviet union or a fascist italy proof enough? No, it is not. Other countries in Europe following similar censorship policies have not experienced such regimes. Besides, although there is a strong relation between those regimes and censorship, there were plenty of others things happening that makes you wonder if things would not have happened anyway even with American free speech. Your line of reasoning can be applied to attribute several of the historical and recent problems in the USA to your execution of free speech. Furthermore, even in the USA you have restrictions when voicing your opinion, just like in Europe.

anoifeh 8y ago

>I've never felt restricted in expressing my opinion in whichever topic we are discussing Of course, if you belong to a mainstream ideology...

bahamut1928 8y ago
In some cases I do, in others I don't. I've never encounter censorship in either of those. Besides, I had some pretty interesting discussions with people expressing ideas which did not agree with my thoughts. If, as you said, I would be on the "mainstream" side, they would have been censored. That did not happen.

qubax 8y ago

> people preaching racist ideologies (that have cost us a lot in the past) find some obstacles in their way. Racist ideologies isn't what cost europe deeply. It's europe's love of censorship. Hitler was able to do what he did because of germans love of censorship. Hitler never got majority vote on anything. But he was able to shutdown every opposition party in germany because of the german people's love of censorship. You could say censorship works well when people you like are in power. But what happens when people you don't like are in power? They can censor too. The difference between the US and Europe is that US loves freedom and europe doesn't. Probably has to do with millenia of living under kings. I don't know. And the reason why we have never experienced fascism or totalitarianism in the US is because we have fundamental free speech and free press rights. Europe doesn't. Unfortunately, instead of our good ideas rubbing off on europe, it seems like your bad habits are rubbing off on the US and we as a nation have to put a stop to it. > I personally don't consider your freedom of speech as inherently superior or the obvious step into progress. Isn't the fact that we didn't have a nazi germany, soviet union or a fascist italy proof enough? As long as everyone has the right to voice their opinions, there is no way nazis or communists or fascists can take over europe. Now if one side is able to silence everyone else, that's how you get nazi germany, soviet union and fascist italy. The antidote to hate isn't censorship, it's free speech. And free speech exists to protect you when bad people get into power.

bahamut1928 8y ago
> The difference between the US and Europe is that US loves freedom and europe doesn't This is absurd. Every country, including the US, has some restrictions. The fact that we put the boundaries in a different place doesn't mean that we don't love our freedom. >Isn't the fact that we didn't have a nazi germany, soviet union or a fascist italy proof enough? No, it is not. Other countries in Europe following similar censorship policies have not experienced such regimes. Besides, although there is a strong relation between those regimes and censorship, there were plenty of others things happening that makes you wonder if things would not have happened anyway even with American free speech. Your line of reasoning can be applied to attribute several of the historical and recent problems in the USA to your execution of free speech. Furthermore, even in the USA you have restrictions when voicing your opinion, just like in Europe.