I've gotten a lot of responses to that Substack piece about leaving Twitter. Many are positive but some are negative. A few are saying "oh so you think free speech is nasty?"
What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I do. The Nazis marching at Skokie were nasty. All sorts of speech is nasty. Supporting free speech doesn't mean reserving judgment about it, you imbecile. It means not using the state to suppress it.
"The right to free speech means the govt can't arrest you for what you say.
It doesn't mean that anyone else has to listen to your bullshit,
or host you while you share it.
The 1st Amendment doesn't shield you from criticism or consequences."
#FreeSpeech from #xkcd
@ZhiZhu @Popehat indeed, those who confuse freedom of speech with freedom from consequences seem to overlook the fact that one of the core arguments for freedom of speech is to create opportunities to scrutinize and *reject* bad ideas.
You foster discussion and debate in order to determine which ideas should be promoted and developed and which ideas ought to be consigned to history's dustbin. There's not much point to free speech otherwise.
@ZhiZhu @Popehat if free speech is about the proverbial "marketplace of ideas," one of the things that happens in a marketplace is that consumers are free to decline to purchase--or even to boycott--products deemed inferior or offensive.
Some people seem to feel entitled to have their ideas consumed regardless of quality or demand.
Ken White
Zhi Zhu
Tofu Golem
sotsogm
Ed... should be in bed.
DC