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littlestymaaryesterday at 11:50 AM1 replyview on HN

Free speech is always “free speech under some limits set by laws”, “free speech absolutism” is nonsense (and is only being claimed by people who will censor everything without laws and due process at the instant when they reach power, see Trump and Vance who are currently imposing a censorship never seen in the US in peacetime, or Musk and Twitter).


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wakawaka28today at 12:01 AM

You are very mistaken if you think the current administration is uniquely bad for free speech. Biden and other libs censored a lot of people for his whole administration. Outside of speech that creates harmful and immediate situations like yelling "Fire" in a theater, free speech needs to be absolute or it is not free at all. This was all well-known philosophy but it seems every new generation has to fight about the same damn issue. Free speech advocates such as the Jews who rallied to protect the free speech of Nazis in the US decades ago understood very well that any restrictions on speech for any purpose would be used to censor people who desperately need to be allowed to speak.

Musk may rub people wrong but he is a free speech advocate for the most part. To the extent he does censor for personal reasons, I must submit that liberals asked for this treatment before he bought it with their constant chanting of "It's a private platform, so free speech does not apply!" I cannot listen to complaints about this until liberals admit that they did censor conservatives, and that they are sorry.

The only actual censorship the current government seems to be pursuing is censorship and harassment of critics of Israel. I don't like this at all but these censorious policies will probably be knocked down eventually.