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The fact that it is voluntary is kinda beside the point. If you define "free speech" in such a way that you draw a line somewhere, you're missing out on a way t
by klodolph 3y ago
The fact that it is voluntary is kinda beside the point. If you define "free speech" in such a way that you draw a line somewhere, you're missing out on a way to talk about some of the more insidious ways that our society polices speech.
Peer pressure is not censorship, but we still need to talk about it.
- nathan_compton 3y agoYour comment is sort of self contradictory. > in such a way that you draw a line somewhere, you're missing out on a way to talk about some of the more insidious ways that our society polices speech > Peer pressure is not censorship, but we still need to talk about it. Right - we can talk about it as peer pressure. We don't need to group all modulations of the public discourse as "violations" of "free speech" or "failures" to support "free speech."
- klodolph 3y agoComments like these are easily my least favorite kind of comments on Hacker News. Rather than trying to understand the meaning of what people say, in the articles or in the comments, we get caught up in having arguments about what the definition of some particular term is, or what the right term to communicate some concept is. I think the correct response to seeing a comment that appears "self-contradictory" is to read it again, and see if there is some alternative meaning behind the comment that makes sense--some interpretation other than our first impression. That's what we do with literature, and I don't think we should be lowering our standards for reading comprehension just because we're online.