this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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The instance is currently federated with every instance (including places like lemmygrad and explodingheads) as the current stance is defederation should be a last resort with users being able to choose what they want to see instead
Exploding heads has some very questionable content though so its status is currently being discussed by the admins
Free speech absolutism is harmful. By remaining federated with them, you're participating in distributing their content and giving them a platform. People do have a choice of what they want to see, they can choose to be a part of another instance without morals. I would hope that a programming instance of all places would understand the consequences of propaganda given so many programmers work in data collection and targeted advertising. If you show an ad to 1000 people and one of them buys the product, the ad worked. It's no different for disinformation campaigns.
It's not like they're just sharing differing opinions or saying awful shit, they're taking things out of context or making things up (or posting articles that make things up) and it's very easy to prove if you do a tiny bit of googling. One article listed off a bunch of climate predictions that were wrong along with sources to look credible. If you checked the sources though, they were all wrong. Some of the predictions were actually made by humans (but not the claimed academic institutions) while others were straight up made up.
I hope the admins make the right decision here. Protecting free speech doesn't mean allowing people to say whatever they want on your platform. It means allowing them to say it on their platform without being fined or put in jail.
I'm a very strong supporter of free speech. But free speech absolutism where you go out of your way to make all voices heard is not what free speech is about. It's about the government not interfering. Just like people have a right to a gun, but Walmart has the right to kick you out for bringing one, rammy.site users have the right to say whatever they want, and other instances have the right to defederate.
If a teacher goes against the curriculum and teaches children that black people are all out to get them, I sure as hell hope the school would step in and stop or remove them.
That's not a violation of free speech, but in your opinion above it would be.
I strongly disagree with you and think you're wrong. Especially that you would allow teachers to teach children that black people are out to get you, all to protect some made up ideal that was never intended when the first amendment was added.
Free speech is not what you think it is. In your scenereo you have the right to try to say what you're trying to say. Just because your opinion is unpopular and people are unwilling to publish (freedom of speech and the press goes both ways, you can't force someone to say something either) does not mean your rights are being infringed. This is universal and not just the US. There are no countries I'm aware of that say "all publishers must publish anything anyone says regardless of their credibility". It would be ludicrous.
And if we go back to my example, that person who believes that they're teaching children something true can go through the proper channels of society to change the curriculum. I'm also unsure if you're actually giving the idea of "black people are out to get you" space or just hypothetically, I chose it as an example that's obviously not true. Replace it with teaching them that strange white vans have candy in them and it's okay to eat it. Or replace it with them explaining to the children sexual actions they desire in great detail. Your absolutism says they should be allowed by the school to do this, and if that doesn't change your mind, I've made my case, you disgust me, and I choose not to engage further.