So, there's been a lot of talk, some action, and a whole lot of schadenfreude about the idea of removing Russian media stations from cable, youtube, etc. Basically, the rationale is those sources of media are just propaganda full of falsehoods anyway, so, why allow them to talk?
Well, as you guys know, I'm a free speech absolutist. And I would personally be against these actions. The fact is I think people should have freedom of speech, regardless of how extreme and false their views are. As long as it's mere politics and not direct personal threats or incitements to violence, I'm okay with letting anyone talk, no matter their views. Besides, virtually everyone in the west seems to be aware that Russia is at fault. It's only the tankies and their hard line anti imperialist mentality in which they're so anti US that they wrap back around to being pro Russia that really falls for this crap. I mean, I've checked out RT myself. It's a joke. It's very obviously propaganda, and they're very clearly lying. And honestly, there's enough warnings as it is. RT means "Russia Today" after all, and there's clear warning labels put there by YT itself telling people "hey this channel is LITERALLY funded by the Russian government, take it with a truckload of salt."
So...if you, despite knowing all about RT and the like's origins and biases, still decide to try to listen to them, well, you know what you're getting into. I dont oppose banning viewpoints. Sorry, I don't. And that includes to our enemies. Too much censorship and repression has taken place in this country due to previous "red scares" involving Russia directly, even. While anti Russian sentiment is fine, and I personally express anti Russian sentiment given this war in Ukraine, I don't support taking away peoples' rights. We've hollowed out entire left wing movements in the past simply because we were worried about "anti communism", and that led to us becoming as far right as we are, we're it's taken an entire generation of people being born and living in a post cold war environment to rediscover the left wing politics we are starting to have today. So no, it's not healthy for this country to censor viewpoints we don't like. It just leads to its own form of conformity and authoritarian here at home. Given I actually want to be NOT like Russia, that means being NOT authoritarian or restrictive of speech.
Another thing to keep in mind in terms of our history with suppressing speech is what we did during WWI. As we know, Eugene Debs opposed the draft and openly spoke out against it and was jailed for it. That's no bueno. Like, again. It's fine to be anti Russia and pro NATO right now. I'm personally very pro NATO and anti Russia on this. And I believe most rational people are. But again, I wouldn't force such a consensus on people. Look what happens when the shoe is on the other foot. People in Russia are very anti their government right now. And the government is rounding them up by the hundred for their protests against the Putin regime. People in China are also afraid to go against their country's government, but will sometimes speak online about how they don't like this invasion either. Most sensible people around the world are on Ukraine's side. That's the thing. I honestly believe, in the face of such a black and white evil such as this, you dont need to coerce people to come to the right conclusion. That's what authoritarians believe in. And that's why America is supposed to be better than Russia. Make no mistake, I'm critical of America when it comes to it, but I'm critical of America often times for being too authoritarian or right wing and not embodying the principles that I believe it should hold. Some of these principles, like freedom, it even preaches. So no, I'm fundamentally against restricting speech, even to our very obvious enemies and ideological opponents. I'm not a fan of this "paradox of tolerance" nonsense people throw around in which to maintain freedom we need to forcibly silence people with certain viewpoints. No. Let all viewpoints be known. Win over people with logic, and reason and evidence. Educate them. Don't brainwash or indoctrinate them. If you need to do that, then your views are probably crap to begin with. Not always (see: anti vaxxer morons), but in a lot of cases, yeah.
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