4 ms·
Freedom of speech is to be exercised only for populist opinions. If we continue to travel down this path, we'd all have the same opinions, as anyone who dares
by ameen 13y ago
Freedom of speech is to be exercised only for populist opinions.
If we continue to travel down this path, we'd all have the same opinions, as anyone who dares to hold an different opinion than the majority would be ostracized from the society.
- thinkpad20 13y agoNo one is abridging Eich's freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is the right to express yourself, not the right to have no one judge you for it.
- crassus 13y agoThis is how East Germany worked. You weren't usually harmed for holding non-communist beliefs, but you were blacklisted so that you would never work again.
- lordCarbonFiber 13y agoIt's also important to remember that freedom of speech is only protected from the government (which is why your East Germany example is nonsensical). The first admendment says you can stand on a public street corner and yell "God hates Fags" however, if you do so on my property I will remove you. Mozilla is not a governmental body and (so long as it doesn't violate the protected classes as codified by law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class) can hire and fire people to project whatever image they see fit.
- DerKommissar 13y agoCorrect me if I'm wrong, but blacklisting was done by the government. It wasn't just some business owners that decides they weren't going to hire non-communists. Big difference.
- homulilly 13y agoIronically, what you're saying is that the right to free speech for the people who dissented shouldn't be respected.
- baddox 13y agoHuman society seems quite capable of forming isolated regions (usually geographic, but also online) where a certain belief can prosper despite it being opposed in other regions.
- dirtyaura 13y agoNot all opinions are equivalent. There are opinions that are factually wrong or ethically wrong in the context of accumulated and shared wisdom of the society. If you stubbornly hold on to latter, is it bad to you eventually become ostracized? Should we respect a holocaust denier as a good member of the society? As a CEO? How about someone who doesn't deny it, but thinks it was a right thing to do?