> Twitter ban Zuby

No, they didn't.

https://twitter.com/ZubyMusic

Some platforms seem to increasingly use "ban" to mean "suspension" *

Zuby was suspended: https://summit.news/2020/02/27/rapper-zuby-suspended-by-twit...

* Twitch.tv for example, never use "suspension" but "ban" for everything from a 24hr suspension through a month suspension to an indefinite permanent ban.

> the cancel culture in the West

Is it really in the West, or just in the United States? Perhaps I'm just not paying attention, but I don't recall anything similar happening in my country. At least it definitely doesn't seem to have the same importance.

Also happens in the Netherlands, for example Anne fleur Dekker -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Fleur_Dekker

At this point, the UK is very much in the same state as the US.

jk rowling - they praise her when she said something they like. they want to cancel her when she said something they don't like.

Does hackernews act like publisher and doesn't want the responsibilities that come with it?

Yes - they do act like publisher. There is even editorial guide called "guidelines". They will remove things they don't want.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

And no - hackernews should not bear the responsibility for whatever we decide to write here, unless it's unlawful.

But I agree on "own your own platform".

Does that mean we should be writing comments on own platform, and just put links here instead of commenting on HN?

Hackernews is not really a platform for building a brand. We have no tools to follow specific people. I don't even care that much if you are the original person I was replaying to or not ;) . We are all random strangers to each other.

But if you have something substantial to say and want to put the effort, then write a blog post, build your own brand and own it.

"own your own platform" - that we can all agree on.

Looking up Zuby's antics, seems like he intentionally used "OK dude" to insult a transwoman. Misgendering people intentionally is hateful. Not sure where your confusion stems from.

This is after he tried to dismiss the legitimacy of trans people by way of entering a woman's weightlifting competition, claiming he identified as a woman while not out as trans. These dumbass shenanigans are consistently done by folks who "don't believe" in transpeople, or go the route of claiming they have a mental illness.

The rest of the world already cancelled transpeople before the phrase cancel culture existed. Give them a break already.

You lack understanding of the quote by Evelyn Beatrive Hall. It means that you are allowed to disapprove of what Twitter did, but you should defend to the death there right to do it. That Twitter bans Zuby is freedom of speech from their side. If they wouldn't dare to do this, because of the "cancel culture" shouting mob, than we would have a problem. I'm really shocked about your rant against freedom of speech and the hypocritical attitude of proclaiming yourself as a defender of freedom to speak. You seem to value the right to do and say what you want only if it's what you decided is right.

If you are interested in this side of free speech the history of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) is worth looking into.

This kind of free speech is their fundamental. They were founded in opposition to the anti-leftist Palmer Raids in the 1920s however have also supported the freedom of speech of right wing (notably Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis)

However they have been criticized strongly for their defense of some issues e.g. posession of child pornography [not creation], prevention of a registry of gun owners, defense of neo-nazis and kkk freedom of speech.

There was a leaked internal memo which gets to the crux of a core problem where someone internally was of the strong view was "Speech that denigrates [minority/marginalized] groups can inflict serious harms and is intended to and often will impede progress toward equality". In what seems to be alignment with this, in 2017 they had to announce "the ACLU will no longer defend hate groups protesting with firearms."

They have also been criticised over time in not following their own beliefs clearly (simple as they may appear on the outside), notably for not defending Paul Robeson in the 1950s from McCarthyism.

> the current Western society is in a very sad state.

To play devils advocate, when was ‘western culture’ great?

Pretty much any time period that comes to mind has a rather large set of inconvenient exceptions.

You can’t just say that the bad bits aren’t part of a culture. Surely those abused or disadvantaged minorities were part of western culture? One culture can have a set of values that are contradictory.

> the cancel culture in the West is destroying people from speaking freely

All of the pundits complaining about “cancel culture” are themselves constantly demanding that various things be “canceled” (fired, taken off the air, defunded, boycotted, deported, imprisoned, ...).

Not in every case, but as a general rule, “cancel culture has gone too far” is a hypocritical euphemism for “I don’t like it when people call out my bigotry”.

Yep. The desire to 'cancel' sentiments and people they don't like, or at least not grant them particular platforms is the societal default, not some kind of modern exception.

Transpeople have been 'cancelled' from all sorts of opportunities since time immemorial without a single person outraged at Zuby's short term Twitter suspension being prepared to defend them to the death...

No it's the good old "if you're arguing that modern Western 'cancel culture' where accusations of insulting certain minorities might get you 'cancelled' from certain private platforms is more chilling to free speech than any other form of 'cancel culture' including those where being certain minorities got you blackballed from everything or even imprisoned or killed, you're not channelling Evelyn Hall so much as expressing which forms of freedom of expression you are most concerned with protecting' argument.

Especially in the case of the many pundits on the cancel culture complaint bandwagon who are quite open about which people and forms of expression they wish to silence instead.