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by sagichmal 2782 days ago
> I'd also say in a healthy society you should be seeing a larger spectrum of ideas and more things you disagree with.

Nothing is gained, by any one or in any sense, by exposure to the idea of (say) antisemitism. I'm not made better or more resilient by seeing it expressed in the open; Jews aren't made better or stronger by having to face it; those who perpetrate it aren't made lesser or more pathetic by having their views "exposed to sunlight". It strictly makes our society worse. We don't need to grit our teeth and endure its presence in deference to the abstract and false optima of "free speech". We can, and indeed are ethically obliged to, recognize it as deleterious to civil society, and use the levers of power that we the people have to quietly, powerfully, and unapologetically say: this is not something that we tolerate.
1 comments
lliamander 2782 days ago
But once you ban antisemitism (or racism, sexism, etc.) it becomes possible to censor ideas simply by labeling as such, even when such a label is inappropriate.

> We can, and indeed are ethically obliged to, recognize it as deleterious to civil society, and use the levers of power that we the people have to quietly, powerfully, and unapologetically say: this is not something that we tolerate.

I suspect that among "we the people" the position you advocate for is in the minority, even among the populations you feel you are protecting.

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sagichmal 2782 days ago
> But once you ban antisemitism (or racism, sexism, etc.) it becomes possible to censor ideas simply by labeling as such, even when such a label is inappropriate.

This is transparently specious reasoning, because it can be used without modification to delegitimize any law or restriction.

It's OK to say action X is appropriate in context A but not in context B. It's OK to legislate on those differences, even if the difference between A and B is not always perfectly discernable. We can deal with that ambiguity as a species. Not always perfectly, but that's OK. As long as we're always reducing suffering, or trying to, we're making forward progress.

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