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Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

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Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#81
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the conversation I'm having. Surely, you can see that a sustained effort to recruit for racist violence, and an ongoing celebration of racist violence, by people who have a history of racist violence, is not comparable to a joke about killing white people by someone who is not organizing to commit violence against white people or celebrating the death of or violence against innocent white people. The fact…

While I find statements like "kill all whites" to be hateful and unproductive, I'm certainly in agreement that such statements don't pose the same threat to whites as white supremacists ideologies pose to non-whites, largely based on the current power structures in the US and West. However I would caution you in your assumption that the same people who would "joke" about killing white people aren't also celebrating w…

The specific instance of someone saying "kill all white people" on Twitter, at least the one I know of that caused a firestorm, I guess because its poster wasn't immediately banned forever by Twitter or whatever, was a joke by a white person. In poor taste? Sure. A credible threat or an incitement to real violence? Hardly. I will concede that sometimes "jokes" aren't really jokes...sometimes, they're the first step toward making an abhorrent idea a reality, and white supremacists know that and use it to their advantage by wrapping every evil intention up in a "it's just a joke, don't be so sensitive". Again, poor taste, sure, but not comparable to white supremacist gangs planning and celebrating murder.

I'm sure there are people who incite violence against white people, and people who would like to commit violence against white people. But, they don't have a voice in our society, whereas violent white supremacists do, and on a level they haven't in my lifetime. Just in the past week there have been three white supremacist terrorist attacks: 11 Jews dead in a shooting, 2 black folks killed in a shooting, and the unsuccessful bombing attacks. That didn't happen because those folks are white, it happened because they were perceived as being a threat to a particular way of life that has white folks on top.

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#83
post #7

The real question is, was there external pressure applied to the hosting company or was this entirely their own decision?

It can’t honestly be news to you that companies don’t exist in a vacuum, right? No decision by a company is going to be made in the absence of consideration for the broader reality in which they exist and seek to do business. To use a hyperbolic example, if Amazon considered having a “kick a puppy, get a discount” sale, the reaction of their shareholders, employees, and customers all factor in.

I’m talking about somebody forcing their hand, for instance a government agency or a particular stakeholder or a media organisation, not the normal calculus of weighing a myriad of factors to make a business decision.

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#86
post #16

I don't visit Gab, but I will definitely be closing my Joyent account. If you're not a courageous and principled defender of free speech, you should get out of the cloud business.

Nothing prevents Gab from finding harbor with any company that will have them, but nothing legally compels any company or person to provide that harbor.

This is exactly the same as if I told you to get off my porch.

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#87
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You haven't even proven that Gab is a white supremacist site. It's not. That's simply a mudslinging accusation meant to unfairly defame a site, probably because it contains different opinions than your own.

You can easily find antisemitic tripe in Gab's official account. It's a site run by bigots for bigots that likes to pretend it's some neutral, principled free speech crusader. It's thoroughly, painfully obvious to any reasonable person that it's not - it's just a generic online septic tank.

I don't recall running into much antisemitic tripe when I was there.

Calling Gab a white supremactist website just seems like a ridiculous over-the-top assertion without even a shred of evidence to back it up... I don't get how this isn't being called out as a blatant ad hominem attack.

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#88
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ‘US Standard’ for free speech is exactly where it should be, and applies to the government’s role in censoring citizen speech. Joyent, as a business has no obligation to support anything outside of their own policies.

The "US Standard" generally means the standard by which the people of the US value the concept of Free Speech, which extends beyond that of the 1st amendment. We the people of the US codified our position on speech in the 1st amendment of our governing document to ensure that our government would never infringe upon our most vital right as free humans. This however does not in anyway mean we believe others including…

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

I suggest you re-read that and point to where it says "society at large". The 1st Amendment is a restriction on the government, not on the people (except maybe the "peaceably" bit).

Re: Gab.com Booted from Hosting Provider Due to User Account

#89

There is a lot of strawmanning when it comes to free speech. Virtually no one claims the 1st Amendment guarantees people a platform or that it applies to corporations. Yet, I see people clarifying that constantly...when no one is saying otherwise. Free speech as an American ideal, that's all people are really saying. Anyhow, Joyent has every right to shut down their hosting services to anyone they feel...and no one r…

You say it's a straw man, but for example literally two top-level comments down from yours (as of right now at least) is this [1]:

> If you're not a courageous and principled defender of free speech, you should get out of the cloud business.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18318895

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