3 ms·
> It's a free speech platform - nothing else. First, it's not "nothing [more than] a free speech platform", the owner himself promotes on Twitter the anti-semi
by sagichmal 8y ago
> It's a free speech platform - nothing else.
First, it's not "nothing [more than] a free speech platform", the owner himself promotes on Twitter the anti-semitic and hate-driven propaganda that defines G-b's archetypal demographic.
Second, in society, at the macro scale, we judge things by their consequence, not their intent. If G-b was a "free speech platform" that only made the news when it put on a three-day symposium for the re-assessment of building height regulations in eastern seaboard urban centers (i.e. actual political positions) then nobody would have any issue with hosting them. But that's not what they are, their effect on society is not benign, and society is correct and just to judge and react to their non-benign influence.
Absolute tolerance isn't a moral precept, it's a peace treaty for a functioning society. Society has both stake and authority to sequester those who subvert it, or use it in bad faith.
In the same way, free speech isn't a moral absolute, it's a means to an end, a tool, useful in some (many!) circumstances, and corruptible in the same way that tolerance can be. Society has both stake and authority to squelch those who abuse it, too.
- s9w 8y agoThe owners personal opinions have nothing to do with this. Gab contains things which people like you don't like. Every website contains contents that other people don't like. Gab is nothing special, besides allowing a bit more of the legal spectrum of ideas. Again: Gab a free speech platform - nothing else.
- sagichmal 8y ago> Gab contains things which people like you don't like. “Building heights should be subject to fewer regulations regarding line-of-sight access to green space” is a thing that some people like which I don’t like. Antisemitism is something different in both degree and kind. Putting them into the same bucket, to treat them in the same way, is disingenuous and wrong.
- pochamago 8y agoI don't agree. If I genuinely believed all of the claims made about Jews on sites like Gab,I think it would make a great deal of sense to be anti semitic. And I think that these people genuinely believe the things they write. Within that context it seems fairly clear that the solution is not to feed their persecution complex, but to continually engage with them in the most honest way possible
- s9w 8y agoantisemitism is legal. antisemitism is as much a part of Gab as other "bad" things are part of Twitter or HN.
- sagichmal 8y ago> antisemitism is legal We’re not really talking about legal systems, though, we’re talking about ethical systems, and antisemitism is undoubtedly unethical.