So...we all know from previous statements that I'm a free speech absolutist. Unless something is so egregious it's literally illegal under our extremely lax first amendment oriented free speech system, I'm literally for all speak. And that includes the right to be wrong. And that said, I wanna discuss Joe Rogan and Whoopi Goldberg real quick.
First Joe Rogan. He's been controversial lately because he's been promoting ivermectin and other anti science nonsense on his channel. I think Rogan is a moron for doing this, as I strongly support and endorse taking vaccines and listening to medical experts on medical issues. But...he has a right to do this. Free speech means you have a right to be wrong. But...the left doesn't agree with that and believe wrong think must be punished at all costs, so people have been trying to pull their music from spotify in an attempt to get Joe Rogan deplatformed for spreading his nonsense. And I'm sorry, i think that's wrong. I don't support the idea of deplatforming people, even people as stupid as Joe Rogan. As I see it, we're all (mostly) adults in this country and an open discussion on things is necessary. I admit, a lot of people misuse their speech, sometimes in egregious ways, to spread nonsense. But the alternative to this is living in an authoritarian society where people who deem themselves to be arbiters of truth try to punish people for thinking wrong. I don't believe in that. If you wanna mock Joe Rogan, go for it. If you wanna not listen to him, then don't listen to him. But I don't agree with being petty and self righteous and trying to explicitly punish and remove him from the platform.
Second, you got Whoopi Goldberg. Whoopi expressed the perspective that the holocaust wasn't racist, presumably because it was white people killing white people, and got suspended from the view for it. I also disagree with this decision. Whoopi's take was idiotic, and clearly showed her own very obvious and very off base racial biases. But...again, her opinion is her opinion. We can criticize that, but I wouldn't want to remove them from their positions for saying something so stupid.
Honestly, all this cancelling nonsense is bad. I don't agree with any of these statements, but people should have a right to say idiotic things. And while people will say that free speech doesn't extend to the private sector, you're right, but maybe it should. After all, just like government tyranny isnt the end all of tyranny with the jobs market, maybe private tyranny is real and exists in the private sector when it can leverage its power to sanction people for expressing wrong think. What good is free speech if you have no platform? And what good is freedom if you lose your livelihood for expressing wrong think? I understand theres gonna be some nuance there. Business interests who run propaganda networks might not want people expressing wrong think on their dime, as their employees. But at the same time, I think the left is being overly punishing and vindictive toward those who they don't like. And it's nonsense. I hate the idea of "canceling" people. It just comes off as a mob mentality and a violation of every principle of freedom that I hold. And sanctimoniously sanctioning Whoopi for one bad take seems done. If they're regularly making bad comments to the point they're losing viewers that's one thing, but let's be honest, this was a symbolic gesture to punish someone for wrong think on the holocaust. And while I will once again argue holocaust deniers are, in fact, idiotic and wrong, I will also point out that I believe people have to a right to say what they say, and shouldn't, in most situations, be punished for it.
Again, to me the problem is these wannabe authoritarians like to just punish people for wrong think. They have a certain narrative they advocate for and anyone who doesn't toe that line gets actively punished. That's dangerous, and a threat to free speech in larger society. As far as Im concerned, you should be able to say what you want. If you act, or incite others to actions in a clear way as defined by law, that isn't protected speech in the first place, so being punished is fine. But merely expressing crap opinions shouldn't, by and large, be punishable. We need less thought police in society, and more freedom of expression. Even if people use that freedom for idiotic purposes.
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