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A comment on Gab.com’s Response to Congress. Parent comment

Re:Gab.com’s Response to Congress by arp242 on Thursday September 02, 2021 @10:12AM (#28392247)
This, too, seems more free than every before. Not all that long ago you could be fined and imprisoned for things like blasphemy and obscenity, never mind the whole anti-communist "red scare" that lasted for a few decades. There are loads of examples from just a few decades ago that would be unthinkable today.

I'm not saying things are perfect or that there aren't any problems, but I feel sometimes the historical perspective is a bit lost.

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Re:Gab.com’s Response to Congress by gruez on Thursday September 02, 2021 @10:17AM (#28392311)
>but I feel sometimes the historical perspective is a bit lost.

How is the "historical perspective" relevant here? Are you just arguing "we actually have it pretty good right now compared to the past so we shouldn't feel so bad about freedom of speech slipping"?

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Re:Gab.com’s Response to Congress by arp242 on Thursday September 02, 2021 @10:25AM (#28392435)
When it's presented as a near-existential threat then I think it's important to keep some perspective, and it clarifies that "free speech absolutism" has never been a particular common or popular stance.
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