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Obvious as it may sound, people with authoritarian beliefs hiding behind free speech actually consider it as a weakness akin empathy. It allows losers like them to amplify their reach despite not being in power. They abandon their "free speech absolutist" postures the moment they think they are in power.

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[-] OrloNorppa@sopuli.xyz 49 points 1 week ago

It's insane to me that somehow free speech has been successfully twisted into a dog whistle to basically just spread disinformation, actively call for extermination of minority groups and openly attack and threaten other people. That shit is not free speech those are malicious actions - and they should absolutely not be tolerated under some vague guise of free speech.

[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 1 week ago

Precisely. That's why the most important mantra we can recite is "this is not normal". No matter how normalized it gets, fascism is not normal.

the conflation of 'normal' with 'okay' is sickening to me. unfortunately, this is normal now.

and that should set off fucking air raid sirens in every single person's head.

[-] yesman@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

If you pay attention to the reactionaries, they always steal ideas from the left. Fake news, media bias? That's Noam Chomsky. Incels stole the idea of critical examination of gender from feminists. Racists are banning books on the theory that they target people based on their race.

That's why they're called reactionaries. They cannot organize and ideology or a movement except as an opposition to the left dragging society forward. And like anyone motivated by spite and envy, they study us closely.

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Here is what free speech is:

Fuck the USA, Fuck Russia, Fuck China, Fuck France, Fuck the UK.

Here is what free speech is NOT: [Racial Slurs]

[-] Raiderkev@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago

Honestly, the latter is absolutely free speech. They are 100% free to say that shit if they want. They are not free however from consequences, i.e. getting hit in the mouth, fired from their job, etc.

[-] tenton01@lemm.ee 12 points 1 week ago

This is the real takeaway. Freedom of speech is the freedom to say anything. That's it. You can just say it. It does not protect you from the consequences. It's an important distinction to make, and I'm glad to see other people making that point.

[-] piecat@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago

Counterpoint:

You can say anything in an authoritarian state, the consequences are that you'll get disappeared in the night.

[-] tenton01@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago

Your argument is... valid. Everyone, we've just established worldwide freedom of speech! Put this in the history books!

[-] angrystego@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

The argument means that if there are severe systematic consequences to some things you say, then it cannot be considered free speech.

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[-] drislands@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

I guess the primary difference is between legally free speech versus socially free speech. The argument being that the government shouldn't stop you from slinging slurs, while you have absolutely no right to not be ostracized/shunned/shamed by your fellow man.

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[-] kjetil@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

100% this. The freedom to say anything also does not entail the right to be listened to. Nobody is required to platform "undesirable" speech. Getting banned from a platform is a perfectly acceptable consequence.

[-] Realitaetsverlust@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 week ago

It depends on the source of the consequences.

Social consequences? Completely fine, even desirable.

Legal consequences? This is where trouble starts and freedom of speech is no longer given.

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[-] HawlSera@lemm.ee 37 points 1 week ago

First thing Free Speech Absolutionist Elon did when taking over Twitter was making it so that cisgender is a slur, but the n-word is not

[-] Hubi@feddit.org 33 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

When our opponents say: "Yes, we used to grant you freedom of opinion", yes. You did, that is no reason why we should do the same to you! Your stupidity need not be contagious to us! [Laughter.] That you have given this to us - that is proof of how stupid you are! [Laughter.]

  • Joseph Goebbels
[-] rustyfish@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Goebbels must have felt really clever when he killed his children and wife. Right Goebbels?

Goebbels? (Gore)

Oh.

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 6 points 1 week ago

A better fate than what he deserved, IMO.

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[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 30 points 1 week ago

Their version of free speech is to prevent you from contradicting the lies they continuously spew and then paint your rebuttal as an attack on their rights to spew them. They’re the victim of leftist propaganda.

[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 1 week ago

It's not just nazis but fascists more generally.

Just look at what the zios are doing to anti-genocide resisters.

[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 15 points 1 week ago

Zionists & Nazis; Like two peas in a pod.

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[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago

Anyone who thinks that Nazis believe in free speech is an idiot.

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[-] LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 1 week ago

Fascism is incompatible with any kind of freedom. Free speech is co-opted by conservatives and fascists so that they can promote bigotry without consequence. There is no reason that members of the KKK should be legally allowed to recruit people. That should be against the law. It should be against the law to promote xenophobia, racism, misogyny, and queerphobia. The only people who benefit from a system where you can espouse those beliefs without legal consequence are bigots and fascists.

[-] melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

laws will never protect the people who need it. every community should be on the lookout for this shit. everything should turn against you when you do a fascism. if you want to spread fear of everything as an excuse to murder the weak to make you feel good, there should be no inch of the world where you are safe.

like, a lot of the nazi shit here in the united states WAS against the law. that didn't help. just a bunch of wrist slaps.

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 6 points 1 week ago

Communal action > government "protections"

Every time.

[-] comfy@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 week ago

Yes.

Fascist ideologies, like Nazism, are explicitly anti-liberalist. They don't believe in the very concept of liberties. They explicitly write down on paper why they believe democracy and freedom is a failure. So, when you see one pulling the free speech card, they're simply trying to appeal to your beliefs, or society's beliefs, to give themselves a platform. It's inherently insincere, they're mocking you.

Nazis have to act like this. History has shown us, without doubt, how repulsive their plans are both in theory and in practice, so until they have power, they cannot show their true colors. They can't just be honest and play "might is right" yet because communities would just do the right thing and violently extinguish their movement (including, but not limited to, punching them on sight). So they must hide behind society's privileges, the rights and freedoms of liberalism. They can enjoy police protection at protests to save them from the people they work to have killed, they can sue people for collecting intelligence on them and getting them fired, they can just point out liberalist hypocracy if their freedoms are violated, but listen to leaks and how they organize behind closed doors to know that's simply opportunistic cowardice.

[-] d4rko@lemm.ee 14 points 1 week ago

"First they fascinate the fools, then they muzzle the intelligent" Bertrand Russell.

[-] VitabytesDev@feddit.nl 10 points 1 week ago

A reminder that X is called "the free speech platform" by Elon Musk.

[-] Vertelleus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 week ago

The only free speech they like is their own -- unopposed and the only thing heard.

[-] st33lb0ne@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

They believe in ¨I speak¨

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[-] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 1 week ago

The far right are well-practiced at co-opting and twisting concepts. It's classic doublespeak.

It's why you have "Christians" who are staunchly opposed to feeding the hungry, or treating the sick. (See: school lunches.)

It's why "capitalism" now represents the complete lack of meaningful competition, when that competition is the only thing that ever made capitalism worthwhile in the first place. (See: Microsoft getting away scot-free after being found guilty of illegal, anticompetitive business practices all throughout the 90s.)

It's why "free speech" proponents are laser-focused on creating new and terrifying mechanisms for censorship. (See: *gestures widely*)

I could go on.

It's sad how little resistance has been made against this corruption. How easily our natural allies have been turned into our greatest enemies.

christianity, since the roman empire adopted it at the very least, has been mostly a tool of appropriating warm fuzzy feelings and directing them towards a king.

capitalism was always been into lack of competition. it's not about markets, that's a more modern bullshit invention. it's about valuing ownership over labor. caring about the nobility rather than the peasants' labor, but with more contrivance.

mood on the free speech.

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[-] Realitaetsverlust@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 week ago

Barely anyone truly believes in it. They only care when they need it.

I've been a free speech advocate and activist for years and I helped people that literally wanted me banned 2 months prior for the most nonsense reasons. They didnt care sbout free speech until they stepped over a line - then, free speech was the most important thing in the world.

That's universal for all political alignments btw. It's both fascist clowns or wannabe antifa super soldiers. Both only care about it when it's needed.

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[-] ghostfish@lemm.ee 7 points 1 week ago

They believe in free speech only enough to get into power and then remove it.

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 6 points 1 week ago

They abandon their “free speech absolutist” postures the moment ~~they think they are in power.~~ you ask them why they support malicious advertising, impersonation and pedophilia

Fix'd. Because those things would be protected under "absolute" freeze peach.

[-] Wilco@lemm.ee 6 points 1 week ago

Yes, this is absolutely true. The evidence is clear when you consider how Twitter is going and with the censorship mentality spreading to other media, like the Reddit bans.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Jean Paul Sarte articulates my feelings on this better than I ever could.

[-] notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Interesting read.

They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The antisemites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert.

This is what we see these days. Trump and his followers lying is normalized, i.e., they are not "obliged to use words responsibly", whereas anybody argues against trumpists is.

They fear only to appear ridiculous or to prejudice by their embarrassment their hope of winning over some third person to their side.

This is what changed since then. They no longer fear being seen as ridiculous or stupid. They embrace it.

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[-] Zink@programming.dev 4 points 1 week ago

It’s important for everybody to not just assume the people on your own team, or the people that look like you, are being truthful and arguing in good faith.

That goes for everybody, but it seems pretty consistent that you need to me more wary of it as you move towards the conservative end of the scale. And conveniently for those politicians, the citizens on that end of the scale are the worst at cutting through the BS. Arguably that’s what landed them there in the first place!

[-] SabinStargem@lemmings.world 4 points 1 week ago

I am a free speech absolutist. Evil people should say what they want to do...so that I can tell them what will happen if they try to ICE my neighbors. 🔫 🩸

The thing about modern discourse on social media platforms like Reddit, is that bigots get to threaten people all they like. If a good person mentions Luigi or what should happen to Musk, they get banned. THIS is the real threat to democracy.

It is best if the bad guys don't work in secret. They should expose themselves to be monsters early and often, with decent folk making it clear that evil positions deserve equally merciless responses. I think part of why the Republicans have been so successful, is because they feel like "winners" to people who value assertiveness. Democrats almost always holds true to decorum and norms - which gives them the impression of being "weak" losers.

Some people vote for the strong, because by extension, it makes themselves feel strong. I think this explains why some people simply never listen to any amount of reason or evidence - they perceive the world through feelings, not thought. This is why "rough" speaking democrats might hold value in our society, because they can speak the same language, while still holding the values of goodness close to their heart.

To put it simply, a lot of Republicans might cease supporting Trump, if the following entered their mind: "They are stronger than me. I don't want to get punched! Let's stay home."

...it isn't terrific, but I think some people are simply biased towards authority. Be it good or evil.

[-] bananoidandroid@feddit.nu 4 points 1 week ago

I agree with your point in general but free speech is a right that is only a protection from consequences from the government and does not include private coorporations or citizens. If someone start spewing racist remarks in my house, i'll ask them to leave. The same applies for reddit and other platforms. We can freely move to a place where our speech is allowed. We can't just force every single platform or every gathering allowing all speech at all times.

[-] SabinStargem@lemmings.world 3 points 1 week ago

I disagree about private corporations. Money is no different from that of religion, violence, or any other form of power. So long as you have a large monopoly on these things, you can greatly influence people to speak...or silence them. Reddit traditionally served as a public square, but now we see selective speech being forced upon everybody: Musk good, Luigi bad.

It is one thing to control speech within your personal dwelling, but it is quite another when you are in charge of a service. Should you be allowed to ban gay folk from buying cake? Or prevent a black man dating a white girl from dining at a classy restaurant?

Violence has many permutations, and forcing everyday norms is by far the most corrosive to personal identity and the social fabric.

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this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2025
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