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Re:Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went priv... by Teever on Thursday January 28, 2021 @12:56AM (#25938717)
“Take away the right to say ‘fuck’ and you take away the right to say ‘fuck the government.” -- Lenny Bruce

I've never really understood the drive to banish profanity or insults. The purpose of language is to communicate ideas and I see no reason why it should be unacceptable for someone to express their disapproval at a situation or individual in the succinct way that profanity provides.

If anything profanity is far more mundane than the kinds of words a particularly clever person can string together to convey a heinous idea.

Re:Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went priv... by xapata on Thursday January 28, 2021 @01:28AM (#25938882)
> “Take away the right to say ‘fuck’ and you take away the right to say ‘fuck the government.” -- Lenny Bruce

That's a comedian being funny and cool. The right to say "fuck the government" isn't important. I'd rather keep the de facto right criticize the government substantively, which may de jure exist, but is drowned in the de facto drivel.

Re:Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went priv... by nindalf on Thursday January 28, 2021 @02:49AM (#25939299)
Profanity matters. It motivates people. Not everyone has the time to attend your 1 hour TED talk. You tell them “FUCK WALL STREET” and you got a crowd ready to take down the traders. Publishing a position paper on the potential negative impacts of naked short selling while taking into account the views and interests of all stake holders ... cool. But you’re not motivating people with that.

By the way, FUCK Wall Street.

Re:Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went priv... by xapata on Thursday January 28, 2021 @11:57AM (#25944837)
> Profanity ... motivates people

Yeah, that's the problem. Too many people swayed by cheap laughs and the thrill of anger. Thus the failed insurrection earlier this year. It's hard to predict what'll be fun this week.

> Not everyone has the time to attend your 1 hour TED talk.

I guess we should package up the science into more concise bits. How about 5 minutes instead of 1 hour?

Re:Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went priv... by Teever on Friday January 29, 2021 @12:02AM (#25954176)
lol you're saying that people stormed the capitol because of profanity?

This reminds me of a time shortly after 9/11 when an agitated old man chased my friend for a block while screaming "People like you caused 9/11" just because he stole a jack in the box mascot head car antenna topper.

Re:Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went priv... by xapata on Sunday January 31, 2021 @01:51AM (#25976702)
> lol ... an agitated old man chased my friend for a block while screaming

On the second thought, this makes me sad. I hope someday I'll be an old man living among friends, instead of watching my neighborhood devolve. It's all perspective, of course. I've been the hipster, now I'm the gentrifier. Still, one can feel the pain of that old man.

Re:Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went priv... by xapata on Friday January 29, 2021 @02:07AM (#25954870)
No, that's not what I said. "Cheap laughs and the thrill of anger" is a superset. More succinctly, "bread and circus." There's nothing new about it.
Re:Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went priv... by ace_of_spades on Thursday January 28, 2021 @01:11AM (#25938813)
I mean, you do have a point.

Obviously, your choice of words becomes limited if you refrain from using offensive language. And given our predisposition towards rage and anger to give attention this seems like an important “tool” to have at your disposal.

But as the incentives stand right now, accepting this kind of behavior is likely to trigger a race to the bottom as more and more speech get’s radicalized (in either direction) as people realize it is more powerful and can grab people more easily. We see this in the republican party. We need to find stop lines for this madness and find a somewhat stable equilibrium. Some places might be overreaching in moderation but this is to be expected as it’s difficult to find the right line as we don’t really have an understanding of the “proper” balance yet.

And my point is really that I am not sure what triggered this need for redress in the first place. Why is it so important to use spiteful language now? Couldn’t we have stayed more civil in the first place? Why should we support this shift?

Re:Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went priv... by ttt0 on Thursday January 28, 2021 @01:17AM (#25938837)
> Couldn’t we have stayed more civil in the first place?

Who is "we"? It was just some Discord server. No one forces you to be a part of it. And they're not even political. It's stock market, so obviously people will get emotional.

Re:Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went priv... by ace_of_spades on Thursday January 28, 2021 @01:33AM (#25938903)
I was referring to the general attitude of one of the parent comments which was making a statement about supporting speech with derogatory terms on principle.

In this instance, I generally agree that I don’t think it is a prime example of things that need to be “shut down”. It’s probably a borderline case. But if discords terms of service disallow this type of language, I think it’s a good sign that they try to stand by it and apply it also to cases that are not clearly (also) politically motivated. If it’s about how to talk rather than what you say this is what you would expect to see.

All my comments point to this renegotiation of norms and obviously tough and contentious calls will have to be made.

Re:Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went priv... by ttt0 on Thursday January 28, 2021 @02:33AM (#25939200)
I support that kind of speech. Not the teacher example, but if it happens in some voluntary gathering, I really can't see why not. Like I said, people sometimes get emotional and you can't expect from everyone to stay calm no matter what. It's better to vent frustrations with words than doing something stupid and irresponsible.
Re:Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went priv... by spdionis on Thursday January 28, 2021 @03:40AM (#25939621)
> Couldn’t we have stayed more civil in the first place?

I feel like there's a disconnect. Movies may not depict it so, but curses and profanity have always been a part of language. So the "shift" is happening in the opposite direction the way I see it.