U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#551

Post by chrononaut » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:05 PM UTC

coryfklein wrote: post #353

It's the practical erosion of Free Speech. Liberal (small "l" liberal) democracy and liberal science thrives on members: 1. Being willing to admit they may be wrong 2. Having access to a diverse information diet But the past two decades have shown erosion of not only legal Free Speech, but practical free speech: * Whereas previously they were just ignored (or even rebutted), today employees, students, and professors…

Wouldn't the points you make also describe the limitations of free speech in society at any point prior to, say, 1980? Except in that case they would be limitations imposed by the lack of technology.

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#552

Post by exabrial » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:06 PM UTC

In order to infringe on our personal rights and further entrench their monopolies, the first thing the two parties need to do is divide the people.

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#553

Post by cltby » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:06 PM UTC

awnird wrote: post #432

shadowfacts wrote: post #40

It is despicable how tepid the police response to armed rioters storming the Capitol has been compared to the response to BLM protests over the summer.

The police specifically allowed the terrorists into the building. They are on the same side. https://twitter.com/i/status/1346924307692318723

It's quite unfair to call them terrorists when they've harmed no one and destroyed nothing. Remember, riots are the voice of the unheard!

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#554

Post by HideousKojima » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:06 PM UTC

AsyncAwait wrote: post #193

root_axis wrote: post #43

This is a failure of leadership by the republicans - plain and simple. I don't care if this comment is perceived as partisan, it's a statement of fact. If the republican leadership had unequivocally come out against the narrative that the election was stolen, this wouldn't be happening. Edit: Yes, it's true that the top leader and his acolytes have engineered this outcome, but the majority of the republican leadershi…

> This is a failure of leadership by the republicans - plain and simple. The cops have a strange affinity for certain kinds of 'protesters' too, we all know it would end differently if BLM or 'Antifa' did this.

>The cops have a strange affinity for certain kinds of 'protesters' too, we all know it would end differently if BLM or 'Antifa' did this.

You mean they would have let the protestors occupy several blocks of the city while declaring independence for several months until their private security forces murdered too many black teenagers?

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#555

Post by mlindner » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:09 PM UTC

coryfklein wrote: post #353

It's the practical erosion of Free Speech. Liberal (small "l" liberal) democracy and liberal science thrives on members: 1. Being willing to admit they may be wrong 2. Having access to a diverse information diet But the past two decades have shown erosion of not only legal Free Speech, but practical free speech: * Whereas previously they were just ignored (or even rebutted), today employees, students, and professors…

Thank you for putting into words my exact thoughts on this matter. This is indeed exactly what's occurring and I'm not sure of what a good solution may be. Perhaps extending freedom from retaliation by employers to freedom of speech guarantees would be enough, especially educators.

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#556

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:09 PM UTC

umvi wrote: post #72

How did we arrive to this point where a huge chunk of the population is in one reality and another huge chunk of the population is in another reality? Segregation of information sources? Politicization of media outlets? Self-reinforcing social bubbles? A combination of all of them and more?

[deleted]

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#557

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:11 PM UTC

umvi wrote: post #72

How did we arrive to this point where a huge chunk of the population is in one reality and another huge chunk of the population is in another reality? Segregation of information sources? Politicization of media outlets? Self-reinforcing social bubbles? A combination of all of them and more?

[deleted]

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#558

Post by throwaway894345 » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:11 PM UTC

slowmovintarget wrote: post #405

coryfklein wrote: post #353

It's the practical erosion of Free Speech. Liberal (small "l" liberal) democracy and liberal science thrives on members: 1. Being willing to admit they may be wrong 2. Having access to a diverse information diet But the past two decades have shown erosion of not only legal Free Speech, but practical free speech: * Whereas previously they were just ignored (or even rebutted), today employees, students, and professors…

I would heartily agree and go a bit further. Over the last three decades, news organizations have traded in their neutrality and integrity for political and "narrative" influence. It is exceedingly difficult to find information presented without some attempt to mislead. The short version: There are no more Walter Cronkites or Edward R. Murrows the nation trusts to present the news without filter or spin. That coupled…

I completely agree. To be a bit more explicit, the extent to which institutions abandon objectivity is the extent to which we lose an agreed upon set of facts. It's really tragic that the hard-earned credibility of these institutions are being hollowed out for relatively little short-term political capital to the great detriment of our whole country and indeed the world.

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#559

Post by TeaDrunk » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:12 PM UTC

coryfklein wrote: post #353

It's the practical erosion of Free Speech. Liberal (small "l" liberal) democracy and liberal science thrives on members: 1. Being willing to admit they may be wrong 2. Having access to a diverse information diet But the past two decades have shown erosion of not only legal Free Speech, but practical free speech: * Whereas previously they were just ignored (or even rebutted), today employees, students, and professors…

> today employees, students, and professors are all punished administratively for saying something that contradicts the narrative of the predominant members, or that may be offensive to someone

Didn't we already go through this during McCarthyist red scares?

Re: U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests

#560

Post by d23 » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:12 PM UTC

jjcon wrote: post #462

tosh wrote: post #409

A reminder how fragile democracy is

I dunno - the us has a president doing everything he can to stay in power and has been blocked at every turn... that would not end the same way in most places

It's not hard to see that if only a few things were different, or if he had even an ounce of competence, this could have played out very differently. Let's also not forget there are still 14 days left.