3 ms·

I’m finding this surreal: hackernews standing up against censorship? But maybe it’s just the wording, or because it’s Orwell, since “free speech” became a dirty

I’m finding this surreal: hackernews standing up against censorship? But maybe it’s just the wording, or because it’s Orwell, since “free speech” became a dirty phrase around here a few years ago. As if people forgot that we have the nice things we have today because of all the forbidden things those before us were able to say, as if we can just stop with that rule since the left is the one in charge of public opinion now, as if free speech only applies to us and things we like

AnimalMuppet 3y ago
HN isn't pro censorship. HN is very much against government censorship. It gets more confusing when you talk about a company censoring (as opposed to a government). HN gets schizophrenic here. Companies should not be forced to carry content they don't want to carry, but companies shouldn't be able to censor people because of company ideology or politics or whatever. HN is very conflicted on this issue. But I don't think it's fair to be surprised that HN is not in favor of censorship, even the closed-minded groupthink self-censorship that Orwell was dealing with.
- barbariangrunge 3y ago
  If you call it censorship, hn is against it. But if you call it free speech, in an act of doublespeak, hn is loudly against that for the last year or so
- coffeeisyummy 3y ago
  The waters get muddy when the government asks companies to censor on its behalf, as we've seen with social media in the past. Moveover, a couple of years of go, it was a good thing "dangerous" ideas were censored, in the name of the greater good. Certain elections and viruses come to mind.
- iraqmtpizza 3y ago
  HN literally gave no fucks about the FBI threatening social media companies on a daily basis with a Section 230 repeal and anti-trust action if they didn't censor specific accounts. Zuckerberg called the federal government an existential threat to the company. https://www.racket.news/p/f-bomb-this-the-biden-administrations https://www.racket.news/p/f-bomb-this-the-biden-administrati... Missouri v. Biden, 3:22-CV-01213

AnimalMuppet 3y ago

HN isn't pro censorship. HN is very much against government censorship. It gets more confusing when you talk about a company censoring (as opposed to a government). HN gets schizophrenic here. Companies should not be forced to carry content they don't want to carry, but companies shouldn't be able to censor people because of company ideology or politics or whatever. HN is very conflicted on this issue. But I don't think it's fair to be surprised that HN is not in favor of censorship, even the closed-minded groupthink self-censorship that Orwell was dealing with.

barbariangrunge 3y ago
If you call it censorship, hn is against it. But if you call it free speech, in an act of doublespeak, hn is loudly against that for the last year or so
coffeeisyummy 3y ago
The waters get muddy when the government asks companies to censor on its behalf, as we've seen with social media in the past. Moveover, a couple of years of go, it was a good thing "dangerous" ideas were censored, in the name of the greater good. Certain elections and viruses come to mind.
iraqmtpizza 3y ago
HN literally gave no fucks about the FBI threatening social media companies on a daily basis with a Section 230 repeal and anti-trust action if they didn't censor specific accounts. Zuckerberg called the federal government an existential threat to the company. https://www.racket.news/p/f-bomb-this-the-biden-administrations https://www.racket.news/p/f-bomb-this-the-biden-administrati... Missouri v. Biden, 3:22-CV-01213