I'd also like to add Public Enemy's "Fight The Power!" as a timeless classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmo3HFa2vjg

> this Stalinist "you can't say that," bullshit is to keep saying it, louder.

So you don't dispute that it is disinformation. Is idea that is that someone refusing to host disinformation is a good reason to disinform, louder?

I dispute that disinformation or not is a reason for censoring it.

And I dispute the repute of those labeling things "disinformation", specifically.

It's all about the effects of what is said. Fight the Power and Fuck the Police were published when there were no social networks around; The post-2K Web changed everything, and the chances of having more people rioting because some rapper want to become their idol (gigs, books, TV appearances, etc) isn't that dim.

If I wrote a rap song with "stick an artichoke in your butt" and magically a hundred people follow the advice and hurt themselves, someone for sure will at least attempt to censor my song. The imitation problem has been with us for thousands years, but social media made it a lot worse by dramatically augmenting the audience, then moving a lot faster than laws, and allowing some grey zones where a law prohibiting this and that would be too draconian and no law makes similar scenarios very possible. That's where we should be the ones who censor ourselves when we suspect that someone could be damaged by our words. That rapper didn't, because he pursuits fame and money, and Fox News by jumping in his defense acted exactly as one would expect from a source that has nothing to do with journalism.

I think it's childish to act like you're being wronged, and threatening a defiant tantrum "this is Stalinist bullshit, keep saying it, louder" in response to someone else deciding not to host some disinformation. Are you truly the victim today, in this pandemic?

He is being wronged, as are you. Each and every time a company takes freedom away from their users they are being wronged, and when the company is as big as Youtube then we all get wronged. The "defiant tantrum" is simply taking the stance that that is not admisible, how you consider that to be childish behavior I don't even know.

>Are you truly the victim today, in this pandemic?

So give up freedoms, for the common good. Now that's rich.

You don't have the freedom to murder, enslave, or kidnap. I don't think you should have the freedom to spread a deadly disease.

Especially since COVID-19 spreads without symptoms, we have to prioritize prevention.

Besides, we've had our freedoms eroded time and again since the World Trade Centre attacks. Why are some Americans choosing now to draw a line in the sand? Because previously the laws were targeting brown skinned people. And now there's a Democrat in charge, so Republicans want to cause strife and division to get elected in 2022 and 2024.

I've been saying things like this since 1991 and before; so its not just "choosing now to draw a line in the sand". Back then it was "Politically Correct is just being sensitive, it's nothing like censorship" ...

The goals keep creeping but the justifications are always the same: People have to be saved from themselves!

Agreed, it's never absolute, it's about if the measure that curtains freedom is appropriate to the threat. My personal belief is that in 2021, taking off your shoes at airport security isn't necessary (but I'll comply, of course), but refusing to host COVID disinformation is a good idea.

This attempt to make COVID control measure into a scare story about a slippery slope where the "freedom" is vanishing over time is IMHO wrong (COVID control measures are not that) and misdirecting (pay attention to what FaceBook does, voter suppression, etc, if real examples that slope is what you are looking for).