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- cross-posted to:
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A standoff between Elon Musk and Brazil escalated on Sunday when a Supreme Court judge opened an inquiry into the billionaire after Musk said he would reactivate accounts on the social media platform X that the judge had ordered blocked.
Musk, the owner of X and a self-declared free speech absolutist, has challenged a decision by Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordering the blocking of certain accounts. He has said X, formerly known as Twitter, would lift all the restrictions because they were unconstitutional and called on Moraes to resign.
Neither Musk, X nor Brazilian authorities have disclosed which social media accounts were ordered blocked. X first posted about the order to block on Saturday but it was not immediately clear when the order was issued.
Moraes is investigating “digital militias” that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and is also leading an investigation into an alleged coup attempt by Bolsonaro.
“But the other guy might twist it for his own purposes!” is never a good reason not to protect the people from the proliferation of dangerous extremism.
Especially not when the other guy is someone like Bolsonaro who is a literal fascist and thus, given the power to do so, will limit speech critical of himself and his cronies no matter what anyone else does or doesn’t do.
They were fascists too dumbass. That’s the point. In the modern geopolitical sphere, the far right has more centrist support than the far left. Just like with Hitler, or in my example, Videla, etc. They promise security and propagandize, often threatening journalists and humanitarian aid workers like we see Israel doing.
The moment they come to power again within the confines of the system and these laws are already in effect, it gives them the power to crack down on whatever form of ‘extremism’ they want to, now with legal precedent. The problem with fascists is that they are inherently bad actors in a democracy and people must be taught as much so as to avoid such a rise occurring again.
Just like with the USA War on Drugs, the best thing to do is educate people, not try to ‘protect’ them like with DARE
The problem is that its not the fascist leader alone, but the proliferation of fascist ideals and sympathies in the population that leads to fascist uprisings. The goal should be to educate about what those are and why they’re bad and fallacious and provably wrong, not to play big brother like China.
That’s my point: they will do their oppressive acts in bad faith no matter what, so not doing something positive due to that is all downside with no upside.
If there’s not a law/precedent for them to twist, they’ll just make one or even pretend there is one. Meanwhile, limiting the spread of dangerous extremist propaganda DOES make a positive difference.
Which is why combatting their propaganda is necessary and just.
That makes perfect sense on the surface, but in reality, sufficiently intense and persistent propaganda can’t just be educated away.
If someone has been told every day by every person they trust that LGBTQ+ people are inherently evil and want to convert and/or molest children, educating them about the fact that vulnerable minorities such as LGBTQ+ people are no more criminal than people in general and are in fact much more likely to be the VICTIMS of crime than anyone else won’t convince them.
Like covid-19 or a Trump presidency, prevention is far more effective than education after infection when it comes to harmful propaganda.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/experts-say-attacks-on-free-speech-are-rising-across-the-us
Enjoy getting jailed by the fashies when they use your own laws against you.
“Liberty means responsibility”
That’s going to happen regardless and as such is not a valid excuse to not do what is right.
Taken to it’s logical conclusion, your approach would result in never legislating or regulations at all, since there’s no laws that the fascists won’t try to twist to their bad faith purposes.
So the solution is to take away one of their human rights? I just have to disagree and would argue this is your own authoritarian tendency winning over your leftist one. You’re allowing fear of the unknown to guide your decisions concerning human rights. Reminds me of some people in Germany that feared Jews.
Free speech is a right. A platform to use to more effectively spread hateful and fraudulent speech isn’t.
Your comparison between Nazis oppressing Jews and not actively encouraging Nazi rhetoric to flourish is not just wrong, it’s absolutely ridiculous and potentially dangerous.
Perhaps this handy comic can help you understand why a free society should not give out megaphones to bigots who don’t want a free society:
You’re absolute missing Popper’s point with this infographic. He doesn’t say that anybody preaching intolerance should be jailed, he says specifically those that incite violence. Those that “answer arguments with fists and guns” not random rightists spouting bs on Twitter. If there’s a legitimate case against them for inciting violence, rebellion, etc, it should be done in an open court room, not behind closed doors and without criminal defense.
You’re a clown and you’re supporting clownish shit in the name of fear.
Right back at you with your “any resistance to dangerous disinformation equals actual fascism” bullshit like a high school freshman who read about philosophy for the first time and now considers himself an expert on life, the universe, and everything 🙄