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YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

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Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#61
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Actually it's been pretty conclusively shown that removing extremist content from mainstream channels pretty much prevents the ideas from propagating in the mainstream. Actually, no it hasn't. And for anyone that holds such a viewpoint, I'd strongly suggest reading J. S. Mill's classic, On Liberty [1] -- a foundational document of Western political thought. [1] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34901/34901-h/34901-h.…

Or we can look at modern evidence, not centuries old political philosophy.

I'd be careful with dismissing the giants whose shoulders we straddle. If it weren't for the Magna Carta, the French and American Revolutions, and the Declaration of Independence, most of us would still be living under despotic rule.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bad. Stipulating that you're correct in your assessment: * the opportunity to drive trucks through and over the holes in the reasoning and teach people something through a "Stuff David Icke Says" parody channel is snuffed. * Icke gets to assume a martyr pose. * YouTube looks a trifle authoritarian. The truth doesn't have to resort to heavy-handedness to prevail. Newton's Third Law applies (in a social way) in these f…

Deplatforming works, that's proven. The truth is more fragile than you think.

It really doesn't though. I run a pretty big social platform based on 'free speech', every time a site like Youtube or Facebook goes on a purge like this our membership increases and we make bank.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bad. Stipulating that you're correct in your assessment: * the opportunity to drive trucks through and over the holes in the reasoning and teach people something through a "Stuff David Icke Says" parody channel is snuffed. * Icke gets to assume a martyr pose. * YouTube looks a trifle authoritarian. The truth doesn't have to resort to heavy-handedness to prevail. Newton's Third Law applies (in a social way) in these f…

Deplatforming works, that's proven. The truth is more fragile than you think.

It has worked well in every fascist/despotic state that has implemented it.

Free speech, even outright lies, racism, etc. must necessarily exist in the public forum if a society is to remain free.

For now, the silencing is "friendly" in that it only destroys livelihoods. If we allow it to become a norm then how long will it take a populous - now so used to being silenced - to agree to let the government silence the "other"?

Once there is a "party" line, as in China, only suffering follows.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#65
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually it's been pretty conclusively shown that removing extremist content from mainstream channels pretty much prevents the ideas from propagating in the mainstream. If the cockroaches want to crawl under the fridge there's not much you can do to stop them but you can stop them from breeding on the table.

> Actually it's been pretty conclusively shown that removing extremist content from mainstream channels pretty much prevents the ideas from propagating in the mainstream. Actually, no it hasn't. And for anyone that holds such a viewpoint, I'd strongly suggest reading J. S. Mill's classic, On Liberty [1] -- a foundational document of Western political thought. [1] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34901/34901-h/34901-h.…

What's wrong with YouTube and Facebook exercising a bit of "benevolent despotism"?

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#66
post #31

An amusing casualty. Newsweek states: >David Icke, Man Behind Coronavirus 5G Conspiracy Can this be true? Does David Icke have a following that isn't just laughing along with it? I remember his reptilian shapeshifter theory being a running joke from back when I was in high school in 2005! Surely, someone else must have started the whole 5G conspiracy theory, right? Icke just latched on to it?

My friend group were joking about it before we knew it was an actual conspiracy theory. This stuff is extremely predictable - Anti-5g, Anti-vaxx, Anti-whatever people will claim that everything bad is caused by the thing they're worried about - it was inevitable for the two to get linked imo.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#67

IMO censorship is wrong. To quote someone smarter than me: > I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/06/01/defend-say/

Well, they still have the right to say it.

Does not mean they have the right to a media platform.

I doubt Voltaire or whoever smarter than you said that meant to imply that their intellectual adversary had any /right/ to be published.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#68

[flagged]

Bad. Stipulating that you're correct in your assessment: * the opportunity to drive trucks through and over the holes in the reasoning and teach people something through a "Stuff David Icke Says" parody channel is snuffed. * Icke gets to assume a martyr pose. * YouTube looks a trifle authoritarian. The truth doesn't have to resort to heavy-handedness to prevail. Newton's Third Law applies (in a social way) in these f…

> the opportunity to drive trucks through and over the holes in the reasoning and teach people something through a "Stuff David Icke Says" parody channel is snuffed.

I wish reasoning worked. I know people who follow nut jobs like Icke, are anti-vaxxer, think COVID is 'just a cold', etc... and no amount of reasoning or data will change their minds.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#69
post #18

Yay another extremist swept under the digital carpet, problem solved - well NO. This will just shift this extremist content to other unregulated and unmonitored platforms that will not engage in debate, but blindly accept such things. After all, if people believe this kinda stuff, cutting of the head won't stop them believing, just shifts the problem out of the public glare, at least on the surface.

Actually it's been pretty conclusively shown that removing extremist content from mainstream channels pretty much prevents the ideas from propagating in the mainstream. If the cockroaches want to crawl under the fridge there's not much you can do to stop them but you can stop them from breeding on the table.

Just be aware that it's a double edged sword. Mass acceptance of censorship makes it easy to stifle societal progress by designating ideas which you disagree with as extremist content. We are lucky that the people currently at the helm of tech industry happen to hold mostly liberal views that we broadly agree with. If that was not the case, the same argument could have been used by them to suppress many left-wing/progressive ideas that you may hold dear.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#70
post #18

Yay another extremist swept under the digital carpet, problem solved - well NO. This will just shift this extremist content to other unregulated and unmonitored platforms that will not engage in debate, but blindly accept such things. After all, if people believe this kinda stuff, cutting of the head won't stop them believing, just shifts the problem out of the public glare, at least on the surface.

The point is to the stop seeds of thought from spreading in the first place.

The way these Youtubers work is to cast as wide of a net as possible as quickly as possible to hook a small percentage of followers who they exploit consistently with newer and wilder beliefs.

By pushing them "under ground" you effectively take away their means of spreading and protect the masses in the process.

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