Re: Musk urged to get a grip on X

On Fri, 9 Aug 2024, Mike Spencer wrote:

>
D <nospam@example.net> writes:
>

I find it very interesting that the only modus operandi western countries
can now resort to is banning and restricting free speech.

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There's a large number of people who are variously possessed of rabid
fanaticism -- religious, political or confabulated -- and another
large tranche who are driven by sheer perversity.  The so-called
"social media" as they are now operated enable these people widely to
instantaneously disseminate overt falsehood, inflammatory rhetoric,
believable misinformation and the like to a vast audience among which
are the gullible, the fearful, the ignorant and the mentally unstable
who can be swept into destructive action, potentially widely when
informally coordinated via contemporary telecom tech.

Incorrect. I am by no means forced to read all garbage on social media, and if they want to spread it, it is their right. If we start to limit it, it will only be used by dictators eventually, to limit the thoughts of their opposition, which has already happened in sweden where it is illegal to criticize immigration, immigrants and probably soon, "climate change".

The "crying 'FIRE' in a crowded theater" concept desperately needs to
be updated.

That's nonsense. Theaters are private, which means the owner sets the rules, just like the owner of Twitter sets the rules.
I am arguing against the government deciding what is allowed to be said or not. That is immoral and highly dangerous as we learned in nazi germany and the soviet union.
Another sinister trend are the numerous "truth ministries" where the government, or government funded organizations decide what is the truth.
On the other hand, I am blessed with usenet and mastodon where I can say negro if I feel like it, without any problems! =) Let's hope that these type of forums only become bigger, stronger and more powerful!

No one is talking about education, public awareness, treating individuals
as adults.

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Educating or enlightening the fanatics and the perverse is not doable
and they cannot safely or in good faith be treated as adults.  This is
a problem with TFG who enjoys both a confabulated fanatic sense of
self and a perverse enjoyment of doing unto others simply because he
can.  He is neither educable nor enlightenable and it has been a big
mistake to treat him as an adult.

That's a paternalist and arrogant point of view. Germany was de-nazified, gripping stories of nazis, communists and criminals who managed to turn their lives around are only a google search away.
You sound very polarizing and as if you have already written off these people.
I have nazis as neighbours in the country side, and if you are white, they are the kindest and most gentle of people.
If you are a negro, that's a different story though. ;) But that shows, like we all remember from star wars, that there is still good in them.