Christopher Hitchens - Free Speech

What Hacker News said

Strong rec 0x7f800000 · 2018-02 · on “Is America having second thoughts about free speech?”

First, the First Amendment protects the speaker from being punished by the State for his speech. That's it. It does not protect the speaker from losing their job, or social ostracism, or anything else. Second, no one is rationally a "free speech absolutist," which is an absurd position. For example, no one thinks their doctor has a right to lie to them, and that deliberate lies by a doctor to a patient must not be punished by the state. Third, Christopher Hitchens summarized my own opinion when he gave this speech, and he did it far more eloquently than I ever could, so I'll just link to the speech here: [this video]

Strong rec chroma · 2019-06 · on “YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki addresses hate speech controversy”

Back in 2007 Christopher Hitchens argued that Canada's hate speech laws are not only immoral but self-contradictory. The motion: "Be it resolved: Freedom of speech includes the freedom to hate." Hitchens was fully in favor of that statement.[1] His argument has three parts. First, freedom of speech isn't about the rights of the speaker. It's about the rights of people who want to listen to that person's ideas. Every time you silence someone, you are infringing upon the rights of that audience. The audience might not agree. Maybe they want to understand the speaker's ideas so they can refute them. But if you prevent the audience from hearing those views, they can't refute them, and the bad vi

Strong rec Reedx · 2019-08 · on “8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service”

Christopher Hitchens yells fire in a crowded room here: [this video] More importantly, his talk is worth watching for a strong understanding of why free speech is so vital.

Strong rec dlivingston · 2020-05 · on “The Inevitable Coronavirus Censorship Crisis”

There is a brilliant speech by the late Christopher Hitchens [0] on free speech that I must have seen a dozen times. An excerpt: “The freedom of speech is meaningless unless it means the freedom of the person who thinks differently... Don't take refuge in the false security of consensus, and the feeling that whatever you think you're bound to be okay because you're in the safely moral majority. ...Bear in mind, ladies and gentlemen, that every time you violate or propose to violate the free speech of someone else, you, in potentia, are making a rod for your own back.” [0]: [this video]

Strong rec arminiusreturns · 2020-10 · on “Twitter still hasn't unlocked the New York Post's account”

I've said it before and I'll say it again; it's the same justification that has been used to justify moves away from democracy. "Those poor dumb plebs, they just don't know any better, we, the elites, know whats best, so we should reduce the amount of democracy!" [1] 1. [LINK] You say "some moderation is required to prevent the apparent acceptance of some pretty hateful views along with conspiracy theories", but the entire point is that then you are giving over to some other person or entity the power and ability to decide what you get to read. I think this should be rejected as a slippery slope made of ky-jelly. "Don't take security in the false refuge of consensus and the feeling that what

Strong rec arminiusreturns · 2021-01 · on “Apple has threatened to ban Parler from the App Store”

My point is that you are then deigning someone to have the power to decide what is tolerant and what is not, when that is not nearly as acceptable or uncontroversial as you seem to be assuming. For example: > If progressives are pushing for more freedom, more tolerance, then to oppose it you have to, by definition, advocate for less of those. The framing of this is not correct. The problem is that not all "progressives" are pushing for that, which then undermines the assumption that opposition is therefor automatically intolerant and therefor automatically bannable/deplatformable. Some of the real progressives I follow such as Graham Elwood and Jimmy Dore have frequently had issues with thei

Recommends walru · 2018-10 · on “Are Black Holes Actually Dark Energy Stars?”

I would much rather live in a world where this person may be heard than likewise. "Don't take refugee in the false security of consensus." [this video]

Recommends tdons · 2021-01 · on “Facebook Indefinitely Suspends Trump”

Christopher Hitchens (a Brit, can we still call them European?) would disagree with you. If you have a few minutes, check the beginning of this talk [1] about free speech. He treats the exact "fire" example at the very start of the talk :-) [1] [this video]