Re: Free speech absolutists weirdos

On Mon, 26 Aug 2024, Eli the Bearded wrote:

In misc.news.internet.discuss, D  <nospam@example.net> wrote:

I find it fascinating how, in such a short time, pro-free speech has
become an extremist position.
>
When I was young, I could say I'm in favour of free speech, and no one
would even care or react, since it was so obvious.
>
Today, if I say that I am in favour of free speech, people frown,
complain, call me ridiculous and ask, but what about the terrorists, sex
abuser, climate deniers and racists? With free speech, all those groups
will not get punished. You're an extremist!
>
And this change in about 10 years or so. Absolutely fascinating!
>
And this change has actually pushed me into becoming a free speech
extremist. Before I was moderate, and the more people frown, the more I
find myself advocating absolute free speech.

>
I'd say the two significant things that have contributed to people
frowning on free speech abosolutism are:
>
1) Wanting to have free reign of free speech *on a particular privately
  owned but publically used platform* (eg Facebook, Twitter, Telegram).
  In these cases the owner of the platform needs to have a say.
2) Wanting to have free reign of free speech for things that are not
  not true, eg so many of the things Trump says.
>
The explosion of speech on privately owned internet properties in the
last twenty years has made point one more significant. These places may
feel like a town square, but they are closer to mall food court.
>
The explosion of Big Lie politics from various world leaders (Trump and
Putin come to mind) have made point two more significant in the last
ten years.
>

I agree with 1. On private property it is the owner of the property who sets the rules.
I do not agree with 2. People can say all they want, true or false, about Trump, Cackles or Putin and I couldn't care less and they should definitely not be punished for it.
The flaw in 2 is that it leads to someone getting the power to define truth, and as we saw during corona it quickly leads to abuse of that power, mistakes and generally pathetic actions of the government.