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One of the few things a democracy can not tolerate is intolerance. This type of censorship is intolerance. Our legal system has processes* to deal with people
by gz5 6y ago
One of the few things a democracy can not tolerate is intolerance. This type of censorship is intolerance.
Our legal system has processes* to deal with people who abuse their freedom of speech. If those processes need to be improved upon to take into account the global megaphone of social media, then let's do so. Censorship however is not the answer.
* e.g. crying fire in a movie theatre can mean you are guilty of a crime like disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace. More extreme words (see Brandenburg versus Ohio) could mean you are found guilty of advocating “crime, sabotage, or unlawful methods of terrorism” for political purposes. All of that depends on context, intent, etc...variables which should be determined in a court of law.
- JumpCrisscross 6y ago> Our legal system has processes to deal with people who abuse their freedom of speech* We need to codify when platforms are liable or responsible and when they are not. Child pornography, calls for violence and political misinformation are currently, legally and politically, respectively, the platform’s problem. Potential securities violations should not be. But platforms don’t know that. Creating legal safe harbours is merited.
- merpnderp 6y ago> Child pornography, calls for violence and political misinformation One of these things is not like the others... Saying that it is okay to censor "political misinformation" is just saying it is okay to censor any political speech you don't agree with.
- JumpCrisscross 6y agoI’m not saying we should censor for these. I am saying currently platforms may reasonably feel pressure to.
- tw04 6y ago>One of the few things a democracy can not tolerate is intolerance. This type of censorship is intolerance. Not only can a Democracy tolerate intolerance, it REQUIRES intolerance to survive. >Our legal system has processes* to deal with people who abuse their freedom of speech. So... intolerance to certain types of speech.
- gz5 6y ago>one of the few thing a democracy can not tolerate is intolerance ...within the confines of what is legal. agree we can not tolerate what is not legal.
- goalieca 6y agoStrongly disagree. The laws may be unjust and immoral and civil disobedience may just be the cure. How many were arrested and imprisoned during the civil rights movement or to abolish the slavery? Democracy is very messy and people who overly emphasize order naturally lend themselves to authoritarianism.
- gz5 6y agosure, there are exceptions to any rule. my view is the general rule we are talking about is censorship is usually a tool of intolerance. similarly, acting within our laws is usually the right course of action (and using the freedoms we have to attempt to change those laws we don't agree with).