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Hate speech is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something suc

by ttfkam 3y ago

Hate speech is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". This I believe is the definition being used in the link, not just "basically any speech that you don't like."

mansion7 3y ago
We have in recent memory seen valid criticisms against, for example, Kamala Harris dismissed as racist/sexist, criticisms of Ilhan Omar as "islamophobic", criticisms of George Soros as "anti-Semitic", criticisms of drag shows for kids and grown men in girl's dressing rooms as "transphobia" and "literal violence". "Hate speech" is the new "think of the children". An easy (and socially acceptable, apparently) way to silence and smear critics.
- kmos17 3y ago
  The irony of using the drags show for kids as one of your examples and then referencing “think of the children”.
Dig1t 3y ago
The problem, I think, is that "encourages violence" can mean anything. Any negative thing or insult can be construed to be encouraging violence, all it takes is for someone to say "hey this is encouraging violence against me" and it becomes hate speech. The Babylon Bee is the perfect example of this. They were banned from Twitter for making an obvious joke about a trans person, because any joke at the expense of trans people was considered hate speech. Why? Well because they consider anything negative said about them to be encouraging violence. There was no objective measure, it was all about feelings. In my, and some other peoples', opinion, Free speech is broken in a world where I can silence you by claiming you made me feel attacked. There are a million other examples of this kind of thing happening under the old Twitter leadership.
- ttfkam 3y ago
  That may be true of individuals in the general public, but we're talking about a single corporate entity and applying standards to it. With regard to inciting violence, there is a clear legal standard in the Brandenburg test. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/brandenburg_test https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/brandenburg_test It's not a huge leap to apply this standard to protected classes.

by ttfkam 3y ago

mansion7 3y ago

We have in recent memory seen valid criticisms against, for example, Kamala Harris dismissed as racist/sexist, criticisms of Ilhan Omar as "islamophobic", criticisms of George Soros as "anti-Semitic", criticisms of drag shows for kids and grown men in girl's dressing rooms as "transphobia" and "literal violence". "Hate speech" is the new "think of the children". An easy (and socially acceptable, apparently) way to silence and smear critics.

kmos17 3y ago
The irony of using the drags show for kids as one of your examples and then referencing “think of the children”.

Dig1t 3y ago

The problem, I think, is that "encourages violence" can mean anything. Any negative thing or insult can be construed to be encouraging violence, all it takes is for someone to say "hey this is encouraging violence against me" and it becomes hate speech. The Babylon Bee is the perfect example of this. They were banned from Twitter for making an obvious joke about a trans person, because any joke at the expense of trans people was considered hate speech. Why? Well because they consider anything negative said about them to be encouraging violence. There was no objective measure, it was all about feelings. In my, and some other peoples', opinion, Free speech is broken in a world where I can silence you by claiming you made me feel attacked. There are a million other examples of this kind of thing happening under the old Twitter leadership.

ttfkam 3y ago
That may be true of individuals in the general public, but we're talking about a single corporate entity and applying standards to it. With regard to inciting violence, there is a clear legal standard in the Brandenburg test. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/brandenburg_test https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/brandenburg_test It's not a huge leap to apply this standard to protected classes.