> I see people arguing that we have to dispense with our ideals because they are Too Dangerous. At some point you have to realize that these people are just cowards.
We don’t have to dispense with the ideal. But that’s what it is, an ideal. We have to remain pragmatic.
It is both funny and sad that this country made it through a revolution, a civil war, various recessions, two world wars, the looming threat of nuclear holocaust, decades of ill-advised military adventurism but apparently it's "people arguing on the internet" that causes us to stop believing in free speech. Like I said, cowards.
Bullshit. We did just fine, and the populace did just fine ignoring the quacks, just like we'll ignore all the quacks without tech companies censoring everyone. Lord above, we might come to terms with the fact we're all nuts, which would be a far more productive and unifying form of civil discourse.
it's not that we stopped believing in free speech, it's just that, like many other words and terms, "free speech" has been "Newspeaked", redefined before our very eyes, in our very lifetimes, and all they had to do to accomplish it was put the Internet in everyone's pocket and convince them it will brainwash them into being evil mindless automatons or something, unless The Right People oversee and moderate what can and cannot be discussed online. literally nobody thought this way 15 years ago.
We don’t have to dispense with the ideal. But that’s what it is, an ideal. We have to remain pragmatic.