U.S. appeals court rejects big tech’s right to regulate online speech

Re:U.S. appeals court rejects big tech’s right to regulate o... by majormajor on Saturday September 17, 2022 @02:34PM (#32880009)

It's a mistake to think of much of the American right as a legal movement or theory vs something more akin to a moral or religious one. Consistency is not the point. The examples of this in the media are the easiest to see: consider the performative outrage and hurt feelings you'll get on a Monday with the grief of how everyone is such a snowflake today on a Tuesday.

(EDIT: this is in all likelihood true for every political party everywhere - that in practice not every decision comes down to strict application of some theory - but the American right often makes fairly strong claims to some inherent pureness of principle that cannot be backed up by the facts of their behavior.)

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Re:U.S. appeals court rejects big tech’s right to regulate o... by PKop on Saturday September 17, 2022 @04:13PM (#32881133)

>this is in all likelihood true for every political party everywhere

Of course it is. And of course consistency is not the point. Hypocrisy is just good politics. "It's bad when you do but good when we do it" is optimal strategy.

Check out Schmitt for the "friend/enemy distinction" in politics [0]. All political factions plays this game, this is fundamental to democracy [1]. Holding your opponents to standards and principles you yourself don't follow is how you win. And of course speech rules within social media platforms is fundamentally a political issue.

[0] https://youtu.be/0d3aRYlSHDU "The friend-enemy distinction"

[1] https://youtu.be/HqgLlYO4JSo "Carl Schmitt On the Contradiction Between Parliamentarism and Democracy"

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