I'm seeing a lot of efforts out there to punish or even in some cases criminalize people for saying pro palestinian slogans like "free palestine" and "from the river to the sea". And despite being pro israel and having a certain disdain for the pro palestinian side which I've previously expressed on this blog, I really don't like censorship. I hate trying to control speech. Not only is it authoritarian, but I dont think it changes minds either. It just pushes people with unacceptable views out of public spaces and into spaces where they just start radicalizing each other, which is how we got the Trump movement. I know self righteous authoritarians love to wag their finger at and lecture others about being hateful, and many may even get a smug sense of satisfaction for trying to tell others that they're not just wrong, but so wrong and evil that their views dont deserve to be discussed in polite society, but I'm sorry, they do. Either youre for free speech or you're not, and if you're for censoring points of view, you're not.
Personally, I can see why the slogans discussed are distasteful too. I do think the "from the river to the sea" one is basically a dog whistle for removing the state of israel from that particular piece of land. And I can see the distastefulness of that. But, people have a right to say it, and let's face it, this is where i come out against the idea of criminalizing or stigmatizing speech, it becomes less about principle and more about selectively enforcing unjust rules to limit certain points of view people have.
No one is talking about censoring the "glass parking lot" people on the pro israel side, so why the double standard? Just let people say what they're gonna say and engage with their ideas. If their ideas are crap, then call them out as crap. I myself have pointed out the logical fallacies of the pro palestine position several times on this blog, and how these ideas to remove the state of israel would create a humanitarian crisis on a much larger scale than what we have now. Sadly, the world we're living in on this front IS the lesser evil. And I'd rather have Israel in charge, flaws and all, than Palestine. This isn't to say I give a free pass to Israel to do whatever, I've criticized them before, I will in the future, but I do believe that their worldview is a bit more compatible with mine, flaws and all.
I just dont like trying to censor other people for their views. people have a right to be ignorant, wrong, even dangerously wrong, and express those views IMO. The proper response is to respond to those views and explain the problems with them. The step where action against such people occurs is when they try to put those thoughts into action. But simply having bad views and expressing them should not incur punishment unless there is a direct threat of action involved. There are exceptions of course. Libel/slander, "fighting words", shouting fire in a crowded theater, what have you, but what is someone chanting pro palestine statements in a rally, or online, or in the public square really doing that is so egregiously wrong? It's just a meaningless virtue signal. Let them do their thing, even if they are wrong in the process.
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