[mschuster91]

Not in the Trump train themselves, but there are definitely a lot of libertarians on here who believe in absolute free speech - a position that is seen as borderline ridiculous from an European (specifically: German) perspective.

[proverbialbunny]

That's refreshing to hear. I'm not pro manipulative speech (and manipulative news), but in the US free speech is seen as a very strong positive culturally, regardless where you are on the political spectrum.

[d1zzy]

We'll see if that attitude changes once the US has a one or two ethnic/cultural genocides that was preceded by a lot of hate speech against said ethnic/cultural groups.

That is to say, the US attitude towards free speech is not somehow the result of some very wise collective, it simply hasn't had the history to affect its attitude towards it in the same way that European countries have.

[jessaustin]

We'll see...

Ask a Native American (or one of dozens of other groups whose vilification enabled their oppression and murder), or maybe read a history book? We Americans aren't less experienced than Europeans; we're just more committed.

[d1zzy]

How many Americans today are aware they (well, their ancestors but that does carry responsibilities to younger generations) are guilty of mass murder and ethnic cleansing? And how much of that genocide was preceded of much hate speech? (how much were the free speech protections a factor in said genocide)

I think you may be right that ethnic genocide alone may not be enough to change a whole population's opinions around free speech rights, that there may be additional factors required such as general awareness of how bad it was to engage in such acts and what contributed to those acts.

[jessaustin]

I am not Native American, but perhaps I can answer your questions about USA culture in general. Lots of people know about the genocide in an intellectual sense, although that doesn't affect their politics and they don't appreciate reminders.

Free speech protections weren't obviously relevant to the genocide as it has occurred, although it wouldn't surprise me to learn e.g. that a native counterpart to Frederick Douglass had been silenced unfairly. As for speech in the other direction, the worst things were said (and done) by the "greatest statesmen" [0] so I doubt that corporate speech codes would have been much help. If it isn't too presumptuous of me to observe, it's unlikely that such things would have done much to slow down Hitler or Mussolini either.

[0] https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/nice-day-for-a-genoci...

[throwaway45349]

Well, I'm European and also believe in absolute free speech. Doesn't seem that ridiculous to me.