this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2021
2 points (100.0% liked)

Asklemmy

44128 readers
277 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy ๐Ÿ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

This seems to be becoming the hot topic, the elephant in the chatroom - the balance between censorship / freedom of speech on lemmy. There are solid arguments for both ways, and good compromises too.

IMO the FAQ makes it quite clear what the devs have built here, and why. But recent discussions, arguments, make it clear that a lot of the most vocal users object to it.

I'm very curious. Many active users feel this way? Please vote using the up arrows in the comments.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 3 years ago (1 children)

People who complain about "censorship" and "authoritarianism" while espouting the benefits of "freedom of speech" are exactly the type of people you don't want around.

If there's been discussion on lemmy.ml about this topic, I haven't gotten around to seeing it. But from what I've noticed from witnessing this type of discussion all over the web is that these calls always come from either the most reactionary users or enablers i.e. those that would rather sit on the sidelines and either let it happen or put up a weak front because they have a right to "free speech."

Unfortunately, this libertation-esque ethos runs deep in so many online spaces, where they'd rather have vague notions of freedom that obviously benefit them at the expense of others. Spaces like lemmy are not for them, and while there's nothing lemmy can do about it, going against the grain and purging that type of vitriol is the best way to keep it from turning into the shitholes ranging from Reddit's "enlightened centrism" to outright fascist spaces like *chans or gab.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I'm not sure the characterization is fair. Both extremes of the "free speech" vs "censorship" argument are toxic and illiberal.

It's a classic paradox of tolerance. You can't have open discussion (read: discussion without fear of retribution for what an authority or mob consider "dangerous" ideas), without balancing censorship and free speech. Anywhere outside of that balance is either authoritarian rule or mob rule and defeats the purpose of an open forum.