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If you're familiar with Jesse Singal's journalistic work I think it's straightforward for us to consider what was meant above there. The question is of "Fascis
by detcader 8y ago
If you're familiar with Jesse Singal's journalistic work I think it's straightforward for us to consider what was meant above there.
The question is of "Fascism" Scope Creep, no? Accepting that big tech companies can decide what is and isn't ethical to "amplify" is going to quash some issues where all sides need to be heard and communicate with each other, into a one-dimensional conception of whatever the most popular liberal people think is over the line into "fascism" at a given historical moment. With millions of dollars a day of US military aid going to Israel, for one thing, and state officials pushing to ban boycotts explicitly in law, I don't think it's silly to worry about this.
I'll say I honestly don't know if Stripe and hosting sites dropping white nationalists sets such a uniformally bad precedent. The material reality of it is pretty good. I'm also not going to treat objectors who talk about free speech like children.
- tptacek 8y agoI’m pretty familiar with Singal and doubt he has much of a problem with Gab getting booted from Godaddy. Want me to ask him?
- detcader 8y agoI wasn't really invoking his opinions on Gab specifically, but I would be curious to know them. My point was more like: What happens to journalists like Singal when any writing deviating from to the most mainstream of progressive frameworks of thought endangers the resources/finances of the outlet publishing it? Have you Googled his full name?
- tptacek 8y agoYeah, we follow each other on Twitter. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here, but I'll ask what he thinks about Gab. Gab isn't a site that respectfully questions orthodoxy regarding trans issues. It's white supremacist Twitter. If it were me in his shoes, I'd find the comparison a little offensive, and also feel like it affirmed and amplified my critics.
- detcader 8y agoMy point is exactly the opposite of saying the two are comparable... The idea is that when Electronic Intifada's webhost or their donation processor or Twitter decides they want some positive PR, more and more they can safely say "It isn't a website that respectfully questions orthodoxy regarding US foreign policy. It's anti-Semitic abuse." That doesn't mean I think EI and Gab are comparable, it means I think other people with connections and power think they are, or it benefits them to normalize the comparison.
- tptacek 8y agoIsn't it a little ironic that your example of a problematic counterpart for Gab.ai is itself a site in part dedicated to boycotts?
- detcader 8y agoA boycott of a country with a government and military killing unarmed protesters and carrying out other human rights violations? I don't know that this exchange is going places right now... For something positive, I appreciate all you all are doing with the Great Slate.
- tptacek 8y agoI am sympathetic to the BDS movement! I'm just saying, you're suggesting that commercial entities could use commercial coercion against Electric Intifada, which is itself an organization that enthusiastically seeks to use commercial coercion against supporters of Israel. Like, I think, most people, I'm a believer in boycotts. You bring the pressure you have to bear on the causes you believe in, and the most potent pressure most people have at their disposal is commercial. It's also itself a straightforward application of free speech. But, then, that's effectively what's happening to Gab, too. It's (again) not clear to me why anyone who is OK with boycotting would be up in arms about it --- excepting people who are sympathetic to Gab's mission. Let me be clear that there's no subtext that you're one of those people!