[The Atlantic Wire] Twitter Censors Users for the First Time - Page 5  

Freedom of speech allows you to say what you want, what it doesn't protect you from is repercussions of what you choose to say.

If you say something stupid, prepared to be called out on it.

This.

People would rather continue fighting and arguing than prepare themselves for the consequences of what they say.
All hail the hairless monkeys.

Not in my view. Either you are willing to let people express their views, feelings, and opinions, or you aren't.

To me, the subjective value of any view or set of views is an irrelevancy in the face of the freedom to express those views.

I would never attempt to stop them. If OCN was mine, my principles would require me to allow such posts, no matter how offensive, or erroneous, I found them, if I had an "off topic" section.

However, OCN is not mine, and I respect the right of the owners and operators to do as they will with their property.

Again, I would never restrict such activity, if it were placed in an "off topic" section.

I'm not going to claim to have never been afflicted with hypocrisy, but I do think think before I speak. There is utterly no form of freedom of expression, outside of revealing personal/confidential information that is not already public knowledge, or those requiring physical contact/harm with one who does not wish to be subject to it, that I could ever, in good conscience, take issue with.

Everyone is ignorant of something, and virtually all of us hold some view that cannot be empirically validated. To say the holders of one set of these views are somehow less worthy of existence is just as profoundly bigoted as the advocates of the opinions you are condemning.

Germany has positively draconian restrictions on anything that reminds them of Nazism.

I'm not sure whether it's because of some collective shame, or a miss placed desire to prevent the same ideas from gaining traction again, but it's almost certainly completely counter productive.

I find it quite ironic really.

No, I do not believe there is.

We are all self willed, or at least have the capacity to be so. Likewise, we are all ultimately responsible for our own actions. Anyone who abdicates control over their thoughts or actions is at fault, not some inciter.

Maybe I'm rare in my skepticism, but I've never allowed myself to hate something because I was told to.

Absolutely. It's contributing to freedom.

Let them spout whatever they will. Allowing them to do says vastly more that's positive about us than could ever be countered by the negativity of their statements.

Also, censoring them simply makes them the victims, the underdogs. It gives their views more weight. If anything, it allows their message to spread further. The second you try to hide something, you validate it.

Censorship does nothing be betray the fear, weakness, and uncertainty of the censor. You can't discredit an idea by trying to conceal or restrain it, you have to confront it. When allowed to be aired openly, everything lives or dies on it's own merits.
Edited by Blameless - 10/19/12 at 6:10am

There either is or there isn't freedom. Those who haven't lived in a repressive country have no idea what the word means till they lose it. Unfortunately most people who post on these forums do not understand the meaning of the word freedom and are more than happy to throw it away in order for those they deem reprehensible not to have it.

Who decides the "line"?

cg

This.

Freedom of speech is only free when it is not defaming/blashphemy/derogatory/threatening/cursing or any other form thereof. Yes you can say whatever you like, but if it falls under one of the above, it'll likely get you in trouble. Especially when you're on a privately owned website. Hell, we have no cursing signs on every other street light post here at the beach and the carolinas, and even carries a $250 fine if you get out of hand with it. It's just apart of Common Courtesy when you're speaking in public. You can get the point across without directly threatening, cursing, or spouting blashemy.


Edited by Shrak - 10/19/12 at 7:15am

Censorship on ANY level disgusts me. Let hate speech be hate speech, and let people decide for themselves what to believe or look at. This is a slippery slope for twitter. Whos to say the US doesn't pressure them to censor groups like Occupy or the Tea Party? This is a damn shame. I'd rather have hateful disgusting sleezeball speech than to silence the people who say it.

So you would rather these Sick disgusting people have a twitter or any form of social media ?

In some sense, that could be preferable, despite what they may think, the WORST thing for extreme groups like that is to get lots of attention, they may gain a few extra followers, but they will gather exponentially more people who hate the group and the ensuing publicity surrounding such a group will, in the long run, most likely be detrimental for such a group.