Freedom of speech

The great American free-speech panic

Elon GIFs | Tenor

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has revealed how terrified the elites are of freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech is the ‘dread of tyrants’. That’s how Frederick Douglass, the American abolitionist, statesman and former slave, put it in his seminal 1860 speech, ‘A Plea for Freedom of Speech in Boston’ – taking aim at a racist mob who had shut down an abolitionist meeting and the authorities that had refused to protect it.

The battle lines in America’s free-speech wars are very different today, as of course are the stakes. ‘Slavery cannot tolerate free speech’, thundered Douglass. He saw open discussion as the means to liberation. Today, those who might consider themselves his heirs think you can censor your way to utopia. But one thing at least remains stubbornly the same: more than 160 years later, free speech still fills the American elites with dread.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inFreedom of speech, Twitter

More Freedom of Speech in the West

“Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?” The entrepreneur Elon Musk asked in a Twitter poll on March 25, 2022. The answer was 70% no, 30% yes.

On April 25, 2022, Musk struck a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, reportedly to build “arena for free speech”. He has described himself as a free speech absolutist and has thankfully sparked a wider public discussion about free speech in a democracy. There are instances — such as child-pornography, falsely “shouting fire in a crowded theater,” or, to safeguard national security during a war (see Brandenburg v. Ohio for some of the legal reasoning) — where there are and need to be constraints on free speech. Regarding false information, such as propaganda, Australian writer Caitlin Johnstone cautions against turning a free society into some kind of totalitarianism to fight an adversary

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inFreedom of speech

CNN Terrified of Free Speech on Twitter: Would You Go to Elon’s Dirty Party?

With Elon Musk’s deal to acquire Twitter finalized on Monday, CNN Newsroom was left shaken by the idea that free speech would be allowed on the platform that they’ve used to gaslight the public and boost their egos. This fear ranged from concerns about former President Trump’s return to analogies suggesting Twitter would become a debauched and dirty party that will chase away users.

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by Sarcasticat••0•Posted inBatshit crazy lefties, Censorship on Social Media, Freedom of speech, MSM bias to the left, MSM Lies, MSM Shitweasels, Twitter, Twitter is Evil, Woo Hoo!

A victory for free speech as Christian preacher is cleared

I HAVE some encouraging news for this special weekend, as we focus on the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The trial of open-air preacher Pastor John Sherwood took place at Uxbridge magistrates’ court last week, and he was acquitted of the public order charges brought against him. This represents some welcome relief in the assault upon Christian liberties in contemporary Britain.

Ohio Professor Wins Settlement in Preferred Pronoun Case

A measure of sanity returns to the world of pronouns.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inBig Tranny, Freedom of speech

The New Campaign for a Sex-Free Internet

Sex, money, and the future of online free speech

For more than a decade, both amateurs and professionals shared their sometimes sweet, sometimes weird, and often graphic sexual activity on Pornhub. Launched in 2007 not long after YouTube and with a similar free-for-all spirit, the site represented a new wave of “adult entertainment” in which anyone with an internet connection could partake and anyone with a digital camera could become a star.

Dubbed “tube sites,” Pornhub and its various peers began to dominate web traffic generally and porn consumption specifically. These sites trod on porn’s established business model, but for savvy sex workers the tube site network could provide a way to break into the business or reach audiences directly, without the porn industry’s usual middlemen. To monetize one’s presence in the early days took some creativity, but tube sites would eventually offer content partnerships that allowed people to get paid directly for their videos. Their competitors, such as cam sites and clip stores, made the process of charging money and getting paid even smoother.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inFreedom, Freedom of speech

Ottawa’s Proposed Bills to Curtail Online Harms ‘Oblivious’ to Reality: Former CRTC Chairs

Any attempts to regulate the internet should steer clear of trying to manage what people have to say, for at best it leads to a quagmire of legal wrangling, while at worst it leads to suppression of free speech by the government, say former chairs of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

“Early efforts in Canada to create federal regulatory frameworks for the Internet, such as Bill C-10 and the ‘online harms’ proposals, were oblivious to this reality and widely panned as a result,” said Konrad von Finckenstein and Peter Menzies, former CRTC chair and vice-chair respectively, in a recent paper on how to address online harms while still protecting free speech.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Freedom of speech

CRTC can regulate the internet and protect free speech, its chairman says

CRTC Chairman Ian Scott says the CRTC can handle the task of implementing the Liberal government’s controversial online streaming legislation, including safeguarding freedom of expression.

Speaking at Ryerson University in Toronto, Scott shrugged off critics’ concerns about giving the broadcast and telecom regulator the responsibility of figuring out how to put Bill C-11 into practice.

“Users of online and social media services expect freedom of expression, and they will continue to enjoy this under the new Broadcasting Act,” Scott said in the speech Friday, according to a transcript made available by the CRTC Monday.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Freedom of speech

FUREY: The Trudeau Liberals remain obsessed with censoring Internet

One year ago there was a lot of noise about the federal Liberal government looking for ways to regulate Internet content and effectively give themselves the power to censor people’s social media posts.

What was then known as Bill C-10 was seen as a backdoor way to bring in creeping censorship by giving the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) the powers to regular what they termed user-generated content posted online, in the same way the regulatory body currently has domain over the radio and TV realm.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Freedom of speech

Why Has the Government’s Defence of Bill C-11 Been So Cartoonishly Misleading?

Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act that serves as the government’s follow-up to Bill C-10, was the subject of debate in the House of Commons yesterday as the legislation slowly makes it way through the legislative process. There are still committee hearings to come, but it is readily apparent that many of the concerns that hamstrung Bill C-10 have returned: virtually limitless jurisdictional, overbroad scope, and harmful discoverability provisions. Further, this bill has attracted mounting criticism from Canadian digital-first creators, who note that one of Canada’s biggest cultural exports could be hurt by the bill leading to millions in lost revenues.

Especially troubling:

“The policy direction has two primary goals. First, it will focus on the importance of consultation and special consideration of the needs of equity-seeking groups. Second, the direction will make clear areas where regulation is needed, as well as areas where flexibility should be exercised.”

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by Sarcasticat••0•Posted inBig Government, Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Censorship, Censorship in Canada, Freedom of speech, Freedom of speech - at risk in Canada

Liberals Infuriated By NY Times Editorial Recognizing Cancel Culture Problem Cancel Subscriptions

The unthinkable has happened.

The New York Times, which proudly boasts of having one of the most “woke” (and intolerant) newsrooms of any news organization in America, has finally come around to admitting not only that cancel culture does exist, but that’s it’s also dangerous for our society.

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by Sarcasticat••0•Posted in"Cancel Culture", Freedom of speech, New York Times

Free Speech, Freedom Among Top Issues of Concern for Canadians after abuses by Trudeau Liberals: New Poll

Canadians are becoming increasingly concerned about the issues of free speech and freedom, a new poll finds.

Conducted by Nanos Research, the poll found that of all national issues of concern, free speech and freedom came in second as the “most important” to Canadians at 8.3 percent, just behind the coronavirus at 13.1 percent, and of higher priority than the environment at 7.5 percent.

With the latest numbers released on March 15, the ongoing survey has tracked Canadians’ top concerns every week since its launch in Jan. 2020.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Canada's Corrupt Political Class, Canada's Government Owned News Media, Freedom, Freedom of speech

Trudeau’s ‘anti-hate’ bill will allow people to PREEMPTIVELY report Canadians for ‘hate speech’

“Bill C-36 states that “a person may, with the Attorney General’s consent, lay an information before a provincial court judge if the person fears on reasonable grounds that another person will commit (a) an offence under section 318 [advocating genocide] or subsection 319” [inciting or promoting hate, promoting hatred].”

This is the work of an insane tyrant.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Freedom of speech