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Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

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Re: Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

#612

IMHO there are things that are much more scary than some trespassing into government buildings or a riot. The possibility that we might slide backwards from traditionally liberal ideas spawned from the enlightenment is utterly terrifying. And we are rapidly heading in that direction.

Liberal ideas from the enlightenment are alive and well. Now if the government had banned Trump from speaking, then you would have a point. Twitter banning Trump is, at root, a business making a business decision.

Here's reality, and I'm going to date myself here, but there were, long ago, enormously popular digital spaces called BBS's. You could chat, play games (MUDs mostly), etc etc. They are, by and large, no longer with us. New and admittedly better technologies came along. So will it be with Social Media. As difficult as it may be for people to believe, 40 years from now, Social Media in its current form will probably not be with us any longer.

Here's the thing though, the government will still be with us. So it's the government that we need to constrict. And, using the tool of our Constitution, we do an admirable job of constricting the government's ability to restrict our free speech. That Twitter says a man can't talk on their private property is not a societal problem. That the government says a man can't talk anywhere in the country is a societal problem. There's been far too much conflating of these two issues, they are not the same.

Re: Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

#613
post #44

This ban seems to heavily take advantage of the current moment, as it's obvious that he has tweeted worse things in the past. It's strange that they picked such a poor way to justify the ban when they could have made a significantly stronger case, and in doing so could have convinced millions more people that they are trying their best to apply policies evenly. For example, I have a hard time imagining why they chose…

>I think it will have some negative 2nd/3rd order effects. that they haven't yet realized. This is correct. The type of person that stormed the capitol will perceive this as an escalation. I’m sure that’s not what we need, but I’m also sure that there is no good way out of this mess.

I think the person who was blocked on twitter will perceive this as an escalation too.

Re: Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

#614
post #508

I am loving people who don't understand that they are literally supporting billionaires while claiming to be anti-corporate resistance. Definition of Liberal used to be: "Willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one's own; open to new ideas. Relating to or denoting a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise." I am still a…

>I am loving people who don't understand that they are literally supporting billionaires while claiming to be anti-corporate resistance. The billionaire in question is Trump, isn't it? >Definition of Liberal used to be: "Willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one's own; open to new ideas. Relating to or denoting a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberti…

Only fascism or any other collectivist ideology?

Re: Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

#615

Don't like it? Build your own Twitter. Don't like it? Build your own Payment Processor. Don't like it? Build your own Aeroplane. Don't like it? Build your own uh.........government?

> Don't like it? Build your own uh.........government?

It's been done before. I think the IPO was in 1776.

Re: Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

#616
post #44

This ban seems to heavily take advantage of the current moment, as it's obvious that he has tweeted worse things in the past. It's strange that they picked such a poor way to justify the ban when they could have made a significantly stronger case, and in doing so could have convinced millions more people that they are trying their best to apply policies evenly. For example, I have a hard time imagining why they chose…

Negative 2nd / 3rd order effects were inevitable when they made the "newsworthiness" carve-out in the first place. One rule for the king and one for the commoners isn't a very sustainable policy.

Trump was democratically elected (by commoners). Twitter was built with wealthy private investor money. The fact that Twitter banned many of the commoners who elected Trump, but couldn't ban Trump himself until now due to the fear of public backlash is a testament to how anti-democratic it is to have private control over the national means of communication.

Re: Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

#617

Is it just my perception, or is their actual justification using the 2 quoted tweets kinda weak? Interpreting his boycott of an event as a call to violence seems like a huge stretch. It seems like they wanted to shoehorn a justification using his 2 latest tweets when the actual reason goes back further.

[deleted]

Re: Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

#618
post #285

Does anybody have a solution to the bigger underlying question of de-platforming and censorship on online platforms? As far as I can tell, there are two general viewpoints: a) Censorship is bad, free speech is good. You should counter bad arguments with better arguments. b) There are types of speech, which are proven to lead to violence in the long-run. Also, some things can be proven as untrue. Lies are bad. I have…

most Americans never lived in a totalitarian state. Totalitarian state starts when the freedom of speech is gone. It would be a humongous loss to weaken or lose freedom of speech. As someone who lived in USSR, I am am always on the side of the freedom of speech. Of course I never supported Trump, but I think the consequences of normalizing censorship will be far more damaging then whatever he has to say. Once you’ve…

De-platforming is not removing freedom of speech.

It is simply one private entity using freedom of speech to say that it will no longer act as an amplifier for another private entity's speech.

Trump can (and likely will) continue to speak freely.

Re: Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

#619

Okay, let's retroactively suspend John McCain for singing "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran" on a hot mike. President George W. Bush should be suspended for invading Iraq on false or flimsy pretexts, resulting in 6,000 American soldiers killed and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Obama lied when he said "you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan" eleven times and this turned out not to be true (90% anyway). Sh…

You forgot Kamala Harris, who encouraged the extremely violent and destructive BLM riots that killed more than 25 people and caused over $2 billion in property damage. That didn't seem to get Twitter's attention. She even set up a bail fund for the terrorists who participated in those riots.

Do you a single fact to back that up? I don’t even like Kamala but I don’t think she set up a bail fund for the police, though she has called herself “America’s top cop” so it wouldn’t surprise me.

Re: Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

#620

IMHO there are things that are much more scary than some trespassing into government buildings or a riot. The possibility that we might slide backwards from traditionally liberal ideas spawned from the enlightenment is utterly terrifying. And we are rapidly heading in that direction.

The trespassing and sacking of the capitol is precisely a sign of backsliding on traditionally liberal ideas from the enlightenment, much more so than Twitter banning the number one inciter of the aforementioned insurrection.
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