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A comment on VLC contributor living in Aleppo writing about the Paris attacks. Parent comment

Re:VLC contributor living in Aleppo writing about the Paris ... by oblio on Tuesday November 17, 2015 @09:10AM (#10581101)
> I support freedom of speech - absolute and unrestricted.

What if my "free speech" involves drawing masses of people and telling them, persuading them, to kill you, your wife, your kids, your mother and father because you have the wrong skin color, eye color, religion or whatever else I imagine?

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Re:VLC contributor living in Aleppo writing about the Paris ... by lmm on Tuesday November 17, 2015 @10:53AM (#10581841)
Then I disagree with what you say, but will defend your right to say it.
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Re:VLC contributor living in Aleppo writing about the Paris ... by xorcist on Tuesday November 17, 2015 @12:51PM (#10582754)
Nobody does this in practice. Absolutely nobody. Ask any Holocaust survivor.
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Re:VLC contributor living in Aleppo writing about the Paris ... by oblio on Tuesday November 17, 2015 @11:04AM (#10581922)
That's a very polite way to deal with the problem.

I've seen first hand that most people bend easily. A very charismatic leader can do a lot of harm.

I'm a firm believer in anti-hate-speech laws.

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Re:VLC contributor living in Aleppo writing about the Paris ... by venomsnake on Tuesday November 17, 2015 @11:31AM (#10582126)
>I'm a firm believer in anti-hate-speech laws.

And I am firm believer of benevolent dictatorship. The main problems comes with the inheritance - how can we ensure the next is also benevolent?

Same is with speech - we cannot project into the future how laws banning (especially widely defined as the lawmaker bodies love to do them) categories of speech will be abused - so it is better safe to not have them at all.

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Re:VLC contributor living in Aleppo writing about the Paris ... by jacquesm on Tuesday November 17, 2015 @01:23PM (#10582959)
No need to wait that long, usually the benevolent dictator of today is the tyrant of tomorrow.
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Re:VLC contributor living in Aleppo writing about the Paris ... by lmm on Tuesday November 17, 2015 @11:17AM (#10582014)
Fair enough, but in that case you're not really a supporter of free speech. If you believe in outlawing certain kinds of harmful speech, why not other kinds of harmful speech?
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Re:VLC contributor living in Aleppo writing about the Paris ... by oblio on Tuesday November 17, 2015 @06:52PM (#10584893)
That's a false dichotomy. Freedom is not absolute, it's already limited through various laws.

Why should speech be absolutely free when I am not absolutely free?

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Re:VLC contributor living in Aleppo writing about the Paris ... by venomsnake on Tuesday November 17, 2015 @11:25AM (#10582066)
Well I will gather a bigger rally and convince them to defend me. Or will convince them that you are the real threat. Or I will convince your people that you are just a phony that copulated with pigs in high school.

Here is a good rule of thumb - any restrictions on speech hurt the weaker side more ...

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