Re:Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet
by ekianjo on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @12:16PM
(#16577291)
> Just saying "don't restrict speech", and thinking that gives everyone a voice, is incredibly politically naive.
I don't see how "incredibly naive" is something that is the fundamental piece of Western Civilization (at least in most of the English world).
> It is not physically possible to let everyone speak to everyone
No, but first not putting any filter on the nature and contents of speech, as long as it is not violent, is something we should stand for. The "How" is irrelevant.
> However we structure our societal discourse, it will always privilege some speech over other speech.
This should be an individual's choice to make, as in what "speech" you want to listen to. When you go on social networks for example, it should be expected and natural to find people who share different views, no matter how revolting they might appear to you. And we should find comfort in the fact that they are allowed to be expressed, because in turn we are allowed to express ourselves just as well. So in fact, there is no intervention needed by any state actor - on the contrary, free speech is the tool that enables us to discourse and experiment with ideas. Just shutting the door, or filtering inconvenient speech is not making it go away, and certainly will end up having no positive effect towards those who profess such speech, because it could further solidify their opinions and prevent them from being receptive in the future.
I don't see how "incredibly naive" is something that is the fundamental piece of Western Civilization (at least in most of the English world).
> It is not physically possible to let everyone speak to everyone
No, but first not putting any filter on the nature and contents of speech, as long as it is not violent, is something we should stand for. The "How" is irrelevant.
> However we structure our societal discourse, it will always privilege some speech over other speech.
This should be an individual's choice to make, as in what "speech" you want to listen to. When you go on social networks for example, it should be expected and natural to find people who share different views, no matter how revolting they might appear to you. And we should find comfort in the fact that they are allowed to be expressed, because in turn we are allowed to express ourselves just as well. So in fact, there is no intervention needed by any state actor - on the contrary, free speech is the tool that enables us to discourse and experiment with ideas. Just shutting the door, or filtering inconvenient speech is not making it go away, and certainly will end up having no positive effect towards those who profess such speech, because it could further solidify their opinions and prevent them from being receptive in the future.