Comment on YSK: That nazis Don't Actually Believe in Free Speech

• lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  because calling out nazis as liars about their interest in free speech has got to mean abandoning freedom of speech.

  No duh insincere people claiming to advocate for free speech don’t really mean it. This isn’t exactly new or debatable: what is argued with it is debatable.

  Earlier, you write about “statements nearly impossible to implement” & looking for “solutions” as if free speech needs solving. It doesn’t. Free speech is its own solution: it means free for speech you dislike and for speech to answer it. There’s nothing to solve but a lack of dedication to & endurance of free speech.

  application of ethical principles may change

  this is a nice summary statement here.

  Not to be lifted out of context, “people’s awareness & recognition of” is an important part of that quote.

  It doesn’t mean their application to the same circumstances changes. It means people discover that principles apply to circumstances they weren’t aware of or hadn’t recognized before. Like finally recognizing equal rights apply to women or minorities. Or that protesting topless is protected speech. Or that free speech applies to communication over new technologies.

  If you got that, though, then it’s a nice summary.

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