Blocking Kiwifarms

Yes, but it is not only that. It is also being part of an relgious, cultural or otherwise marginalized group and not having to fear for your life because you have been a little too vocal.

The truth is that freedom of speech (like most other freedoms) must comstantly be balanced between the different actors. E.g. in 1930s Germany the members of the nationalist socialist party of Germany have been quite free to utter their disgusting voices while as a jewish citizen you would have had a hard time if you did so. And the reason for this was that the speech of the Nazis ended up being more than just opinions, but threats. And those threats turned into violence and genocide.

Today, we are again at a point where speech turns into threats turns into violence. Karl Popper's paradoxon of intolerance and all that. Any free society has to be intolerant towards the intolerant, otherwise you cease to be a free society at one point or another. Because the intolarent will not fight for free speech once they are in power, they will abolish it for everybody but themselves. The actual Nazis back then were quite happy painting themselves as victims only to later remove the very rights they claimed.

Once people get beaten, lynched and killed by fascist mobs and loose their rights to bodily autonomy discussing freedom of speech seems naive. People who have to fear violence and incarceration cannot speak freely. And if you look at the statistics for right wing violence the point I raise here is anything but academic.

The excuses here are as pitiful as those of the misinformed hateful mobs trying to take the site down.

Since this mess all started I've been paying close attention to everything going on, including the site, and noting the major discrepancies between what the mob and media report about the site and the reality of the site itself. From allegations of being an alt-right site (the have an entire sub form dedicated to laughing at major alt-right and right-wing personalities, and have leftist members.. not to mention that the site is apolitical in nature to begin with) To claims that it has a history of supposed "intimidation campaigns" and "swatting". (which is not only against the rules but also goes against the core nature of the site to begin with. To document, look and laugh.. but never touch!)

Is it distasteful and vulgar, yes, but they (and not just the staff but most users as well) treat threats and attempts at off site harassment, swatting or interaction of any kind, as serious.

The site also seems to take dangerous and illegal stuff seriously as well. There is a whole board and a thread dedicated to documenting all the legal interactions and requests by law enforcement. The idea that they suddenly, now, stopped responding is hard to believe. This is why they have been so hard to shutdown in the past. Further more, from the sound of the statement here, not only was law enforcement not on board with this so called threat, but not even after CF reached out to them!

This is and has always been about perfectly legal speech that some people don't like and refuse to allow spoken. This is a case of literal misinformation. Much like all the claims of swatting and deaths. It's literally "if you say it enough times people start to believe it" in action. It doesn't matter that allegations have no proof or don't even attempt to provide any.. certain types of media just pick up the allegations are repeat as fact. And specifically here exact type of people complaining should give you a big hint at why this is all being taken so seriously.

I know what the response to this is going to be.. "right" minded people jumping in to yell about swatting and harassment etc. Pointing out that keffals was swatted. But ignoring that keffals themselves is the one who claims it was KF based only on... who knows. and before anyone asks who else could or would have done it, don't forget that keffals has a reputation, and is prideful in fact, of a history of attacking and de-platforming people for literal misunderstandings and personal grudges. This all started when the owner of the site commented on keffals gloating about getting Destiny banned and "deprived of his livelihood" for daring to make what amounted to a joke. And that's not even getting into all the messed up stuff they are connected to or directly responsible for. (grooming, abuse allegations, running an under age sexual forum, supporting a site that teaches children how to make homemade hormones in their bathtub secretly and more) This person is the hill so many seem to want to die on!

This whole think smells like a major copout.