Re: Have we crossed the line yet?
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:18 pm
The Constitution guarantees us the right to speak our minds without government interference. That's why I can say "Donald J. Trump is an incompetent, traitorous half-wit and the world would be a better place if he had an aneurysm and died" without fear of the secret police knocking on my door.
Twitter is not the government. Neither is Facebook, or Snapchat, YouTube, or the A&E Network, or your boss, or your neighbors, or the strangers who read stuff you write on the Internet. There's nothing, generally speaking, preventing any of the aforementioned entities, groups, or individuals from banning, firing, shunning, or mocking you. If, for example, I say "Donald J. Trump is an incompetent, traitorous half-wit and the world would be a better place if he had an aneurysm and died" on these forums I'd likely get some strong push back. I might not care for that push back, but it wouldn't mean that free speech was under assault.
Your free speech has not been taken away. Your speech just has consequences, same as it always has. The "problem" is that what you can say without getting flack from your neighbors or losing your job has changed, and some people are angry about that. It used to be that saying stuff like "I'm a homosexual" got you mocked, shunned, and fired. Now it's other stuff. Stuff that people might, for example, want to say about homosexuals. But that's just details. The overall situation hasn't changed a bit, just the details.
And there's no connection between shadow banning and free speech.
Twitter is not the government. Neither is Facebook, or Snapchat, YouTube, or the A&E Network, or your boss, or your neighbors, or the strangers who read stuff you write on the Internet. There's nothing, generally speaking, preventing any of the aforementioned entities, groups, or individuals from banning, firing, shunning, or mocking you. If, for example, I say "Donald J. Trump is an incompetent, traitorous half-wit and the world would be a better place if he had an aneurysm and died" on these forums I'd likely get some strong push back. I might not care for that push back, but it wouldn't mean that free speech was under assault.
Your free speech has not been taken away. Your speech just has consequences, same as it always has. The "problem" is that what you can say without getting flack from your neighbors or losing your job has changed, and some people are angry about that. It used to be that saying stuff like "I'm a homosexual" got you mocked, shunned, and fired. Now it's other stuff. Stuff that people might, for example, want to say about homosexuals. But that's just details. The overall situation hasn't changed a bit, just the details.
And there's no connection between shadow banning and free speech.