I had written a good answer here, but it got deleted because I accidentally tapped a link. Comments should save drafts …
The TLDR of it is:
Censorship serves the elite and has historically been used to oppress and not empower.
It does not matter that people are evil [OUTGROUP HERE]. I have personally known people who openly said they were terrorists-if-opportunity-allows, nazis (literal Hitler supporters), thieves, etc. NONE OF THEM did anything out of the ordinary. Their incentives made them act just like others. See this book for a treatise on how mere capitalism mitigated apartheid racism.
Even if censorship worked, it is inherently wrong itself. It is a form of manipulation and oppression. I don’t say its benefits could not trump its costs, but there definitely are costs which are often neglected. Our society generally does not care about people’s intellectual integrity and dignity. That doesn’t mean those don’t matter.
I actually think it’s true that the OP hasn’t advocated for censoring anyone. They haven’t said that SA or SSC should be suppressed, and if they think it’s a good thing that SA has willingly chosen to delete it, well, I’d be lying if I said there weren’t internet contributors I think we’d be better off without, even if I would strongly oppose attempts to silence them.
It’s important to be able to say things are bad without saying they should be censored: that’s basically the core of free-speech liberalism. “I don’t think this should be censored, but I think it’s bad, and I think it’s worrying you don’t think it’s bad” is on its face a reasonable position, and it’s important that it’s one people can say.
I downvoted the post for several reasons, but I don’t think pro-censorship is one of them. I might be wrong about this. But the horns effect is real and powerful, and we should all be wary of it.
I have heavily updated on you being a bad faith actor. If you seriously believe your argument is not significantly pro-censorship, I suggest studying censorship historically in cases it clashes with your political views. Then compare those historical cases with what you advocate. Political censorship always believes itself to be something else. As the theocracy I live in says on my textbooks, “Freedom is not to do what anyone wants. Freedom is doing what the divine leader says.” Or as famous fiction has it, “war is peace.”
I had written a good answer here, but it got deleted because I accidentally tapped a link. Comments should save drafts … The TLDR of it is:
Censorship serves the elite and has historically been used to oppress and not empower.
It does not matter that people are evil [OUTGROUP HERE]. I have personally known people who openly said they were terrorists-if-opportunity-allows, nazis (literal Hitler supporters), thieves, etc. NONE OF THEM did anything out of the ordinary. Their incentives made them act just like others. See this book for a treatise on how mere capitalism mitigated apartheid racism.
Even if censorship worked, it is inherently wrong itself. It is a form of manipulation and oppression. I don’t say its benefits could not trump its costs, but there definitely are costs which are often neglected. Our society generally does not care about people’s intellectual integrity and dignity. That doesn’t mean those don’t matter.
I’m not advocating for censoring anyone. I’m interested in complicity with racism in the EA community.
I actually think it’s true that the OP hasn’t advocated for censoring anyone. They haven’t said that SA or SSC should be suppressed, and if they think it’s a good thing that SA has willingly chosen to delete it, well, I’d be lying if I said there weren’t internet contributors I think we’d be better off without, even if I would strongly oppose attempts to silence them.
It’s important to be able to say things are bad without saying they should be censored: that’s basically the core of free-speech liberalism. “I don’t think this should be censored, but I think it’s bad, and I think it’s worrying you don’t think it’s bad” is on its face a reasonable position, and it’s important that it’s one people can say.
I downvoted the post for several reasons, but I don’t think pro-censorship is one of them. I might be wrong about this. But the horns effect is real and powerful, and we should all be wary of it.
I have heavily updated on you being a bad faith actor. If you seriously believe your argument is not significantly pro-censorship, I suggest studying censorship historically in cases it clashes with your political views. Then compare those historical cases with what you advocate. Political censorship always believes itself to be something else. As the theocracy I live in says on my textbooks, “Freedom is not to do what anyone wants. Freedom is doing what the divine leader says.” Or as famous fiction has it, “war is peace.”