[SimbaOnSteroids]

Would you tolerate the NYT or other large pre internet print medium publishing opinion pieces in favor of pedophilia? I don't think I would. The argument then becomes why should we tolerate such behavior post internet.

[mwerd]

Yes, if it was noteworthy or somehow remarkable and written to the standard of the NYT, I would. There was a fantastic piece that toed this line on This American Life not too long ago (https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/522/...). I'm generally in favor of people having a medium to say things I disagree with and even find distasteful. That's what I think of when I hear "free speech". It's a core American value.

I would also "tolerate" the opinion piece, in any medium, that argued against it. I think it's very easy to make a good argument against pedophilia so I'm not at all worried about some random NYT op-ed piece suddenly turning the societal norm. Just like I'm not too worried about someone writing an op-ed that argues for slavery again. Once 'we' thought these things were ~ok, now we know they're not, and we have a long list of very good reasons for that that are nearly impossible to overcome.

I don't understand the fear of ideas that censorship advocates have. What's so scary about someone being wrong and having an opportunity to learn as much? If you stifle every conversation on topics we as a society have long since covered, these ideas will grow and fester in the dark (say, on StormFront or whatever). It's OK to let them in the light every now and then so that we have an opportunity to educate those who might not have learned the lesson.