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> Sadly though, a lot of Americans and especially people on the far left are not appreciative of the freedom of speech this country has, and continue to squande

by willk 5y ago

> Sadly though, a lot of Americans and especially people on the far left are not appreciative of the freedom of speech this country has, and continue to squander it. Can you expand on this? I’d like to understand your view better. How does the far left not appreciate it?

zo1 5y ago
Not OP. But from my perspective, there has been a huge amount of silencing of speech for non-Left or non-mainstream opinions. Not always in the form of raw censorship, but a weird kind of endorsement, repetition and tacit-acceptance by institutions of only Left-leaning views, and also fear and bully-like tactics that has the ultimate effect of people self-censoring if they happen to be outside of that seemingly-narrow and "Left"-leaning set of opinions. There are so many opinions that are downright foot-guns or taboos in any sort of public arena for example. And we don't even notice how we self-censor those opinions, nor do we notice it until we have those opinions/ideas and try to voice them. I'm relatively civil and polite on HN, but I don't dare repeat most of what I express here under my real identity.
emadabdulrahim 5y ago
The attack on comedians, the insistence on de-platforming folks that say anything outside the mainstream consensus. Cancel culture and the elevation of sensitivity. It's one thing for one to share their opinion "I don't like this, this is inappropriate", it's different when one is seeking power to shutdown the person they're disagreeing with. All of this makes people who have a different perspective, who might want to share their own personal experience that doesn't quite fit the narrative, to withhold and play it safe. Which ties back to freedom of speech. I've experienced this myself in my career in large SV tech companies. And my friends in Academia share similar stories and concerns.
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- throw10920 5y ago
  Beyond freedom of speech, there are many extreme progressives (not "liberals") who will attack you if they think that your beliefs are "wrong". You can maybe kind-of almost justify strong restrictions on what someone is allowed to say in public - but no, these people will try to get you fired if they think that you have the wrong thoughts. This is, quite plainly, inexcusable pure malice.

by willk 5y ago

zo1 5y ago

Not OP. But from my perspective, there has been a huge amount of silencing of speech for non-Left or non-mainstream opinions. Not always in the form of raw censorship, but a weird kind of endorsement, repetition and tacit-acceptance by institutions of only Left-leaning views, and also fear and bully-like tactics that has the ultimate effect of people self-censoring if they happen to be outside of that seemingly-narrow and "Left"-leaning set of opinions. There are so many opinions that are downright foot-guns or taboos in any sort of public arena for example. And we don't even notice how we self-censor those opinions, nor do we notice it until we have those opinions/ideas and try to voice them. I'm relatively civil and polite on HN, but I don't dare repeat most of what I express here under my real identity.

emadabdulrahim 5y ago

The attack on comedians, the insistence on de-platforming folks that say anything outside the mainstream consensus. Cancel culture and the elevation of sensitivity. It's one thing for one to share their opinion "I don't like this, this is inappropriate", it's different when one is seeking power to shutdown the person they're disagreeing with. All of this makes people who have a different perspective, who might want to share their own personal experience that doesn't quite fit the narrative, to withhold and play it safe. Which ties back to freedom of speech. I've experienced this myself in my career in large SV tech companies. And my friends in Academia share similar stories and concerns.

deleted 5y ago
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throw10920 5y ago
Beyond freedom of speech, there are many extreme progressives (not "liberals") who will attack you if they think that your beliefs are "wrong". You can maybe kind-of almost justify strong restrictions on what someone is allowed to say in public - but no, these people will try to get you fired if they think that you have the wrong thoughts. This is, quite plainly, inexcusable pure malice.