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> Free speech is about ideas, not being a dick. You want to personally try to have civilized discussions where you resolve thorny issues that people are passio
by ben509 8y ago
> Free speech is about ideas, not being a dick.
You want to personally try to have civilized discussions where you resolve thorny issues that people are passionate about, and may hold utterly objectionable views about. Any given person should do that even if only from self-interest; why waste your life trolling?
The entire Gab application promotes an intellectual sewer, and that's because its business model (same as Twitter's) rewards bad behavior.
But "free speech" in the context of a protection is generally about needing to protect the speech of people who aren't polite, who have objectionable views, etc. And that's because they are still human beings and, absent material harm, have an inalienable right to self-expression.
- anigbrowl 8y agoI'm not that worried about protecting the rights of people to abridge the rights of others, since they're demanding a double standard. Specifically I mean people who say groups of people should suffer a loss of rights due to some perceived inherent defect as opposed to behavior.
- krapp 8y agoWhat rights have been lost or abridged here? We're in a thread about a site that Gab launched in order to express itself, and they seem to be expressing themselves freely. And people object to their behavior, specifically their political ideology. I don't think anyone has mentioned "inherent defects," whatever those would be.
- anigbrowl 8y agoRead it in context, it's a reply to the last argument int he previous comment which is a general one.