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Re:MS will ban Forza players who add the confederate flag to... by notahacker on Thursday July 02, 2020 @04:21PM (#23717585)
The implicit argument that an inability to display Confederate flags on others' property generates comparable negative externalities to environmental damage is certainly a bold one, and not, I would argue a better one than the more usual argument that private entities are bound to facilitate freedom of speech by the US constitution. You'd have a tough time persuading me any externalities generated by user generated Confederate flags within computer games were positive at all, still less that they were sufficiently positive to warrant government intrusion in the moderation process to protect them.

(Sure, there are slippery slope arguments about what happens if speech is not permitted on any media or if media companies are permitted monopoly power, but since Forza car designs are pretty far from that scenario, government intervention based on the assumption that computer game-designers do not have rights to curate their world or that displayers of the Confederate flag deserve special protections falls down much slipperier slopes of eroding property rights or enforcing [unpleasant] speech)

Re:MS will ban Forza players who add the confederate flag to... by naasking on Thursday July 02, 2020 @04:38PM (#23717749)
> The implicit argument that an inability to display Confederate flags on others' property generates comparable negative externalities to environmental damage

Attack the strongest interpretation of an argument, not the weakest. Your choice to focus on this flag incident and ignore the wider context that I described of platforms of all kinds censoring speech and banning people reveals the flaw in this sort of response.

This is but one more example of a trend, and the trend is what should be alarming. One should rightly be suspicious of any claim that a specifically bad storm, or a specific heat wave was caused by global warming, but one should be very alarmed at the growing trend of worsening storms and increasing incidents of heat waves.

Re:MS will ban Forza players who add the confederate flag to... by notahacker on Thursday July 02, 2020 @05:30PM (#23718276)
Has there ever been a time when businesses didn't ban users from saying and doing things they didn't like on their property? The only trend seems to be that this time it's perceived racism which is the target, rather than stuff perceived as being vulgar or blasphemous or against their family values or age inappropriate or off topic or too critical of the platform owner, and you'll have trouble convincing me that this time [and especially this particular instance] it's not considerably less alarming than most existing forms of corporate moderation.
Re:MS will ban Forza players who add the confederate flag to... by naasking on Thursday July 02, 2020 @05:42PM (#23718392)
> Has there ever been a time when businesses didn't ban users from saying and doing things they didn't like on their property?

Sure, happens all the time. You think waitresses and restaurant managers like belligerent customers? They often tolerate them anyway.

Like I said, this specific instance wouldn't concern me at all if it weren't for the over-arching trend, and my post was specifically targeting a (frankly hypocritical) type of reply that comes up every time this topic is broached.